A single incident can often result in a variety of claims and available benefits. Consider a car accident while a person is “at work.” This could involve driving to a sales meeting; a construction or landscape laborer travelling between sites; a police officer pursuing a suspect; a food delivery person — the list of possibilities is endless.

Related: 10 workers' compensation trends to watch in 2018

This single accident could lead attorneys to believe they can gather the medical records, fill out forms, use boilerplate pleadings and pursue each of the various claims this single accident could create, such as the following:

• A negligence claim against other driver
• Workers Compensation
• FMLA
• Short- and long-term disability
• For officers on duty, a Heart & Lung Act claim
• For prolonged disability, Social Security benefits
• For complications from treatment, a medical malpractice claim
• For defects in one of the cars causing the accident, a products liability claim

Few law firms, let alone sole practitioners, are equipped to capably handle all aspects involved in what may seem at first glance to be one, simple claim, not as a result of the lawyer's particular skill or ability, but rather because each type of practice is so very different in its nature, procedures, scheduling issues and just plain “style” of practice. In order to maximize the value of each separate component of the claim, as well as to protect the client's best interest, lawyers need to be wary about what they don't know. Clint Eastwood probably put it best: “A man's got to know his limitations.” (Magnum Force, 1973).

Origin

Personal Injury (PI) law originated in common law trespass. Workers' Compensation (WC) is purely statutory. When rights and duties are created by statute, the legislature giveth, and the legislature may taketh away. For example, Pennsylvania's Workers' Compensation Act was called “The Grand Bargain” when created in 1915. The primary element given was the relaxed burden of proof (course of employment vs. negligence); while the benefit(s) taken away involve the types og compensation available (for instance, pain and suffering).