Written Statements, Recorded Statements, Sworn Statements & Depositions

Recorded statements, sworn statements and depositions are sometimes requested by an employer when a worker suffers an injury.  The purpose for the recorded or written statement is to keep someone from “changing their story” at a later time.  Another purpose is to give  the employer's attorney or claims adjuster an opportunity to twist the words of the worker to use against the worker at a later time.  Many workers have made the mistake of inferring good intentions to their employer after an on the job injury.  "I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt" is a common thought heard from workers when they call a lawyer explaining how their company twisted their words and put words into their mouths.

An employer wants a statement, whether recorded or not simply because they do not trust an injured worker.  Before an injury a worker gets paid for his work.  After an injury the worker gets paid when he does not work.  Forget the company executives for a minute and think about what co-workers and bosses think about this.  They think that the injured worker is "playing the system" to get an unfair advantage.  The company executives see injured workers as a threat to productivity and to their bottom line.

After an on the job injury the relationship between employer and worker usually becomes worse.  Workers may notice an immediate change in co-worker attitudes.  Before the accident the worker and employer are "Us".  After the injury the employer is "Us" and the worker is "Them", and it is always about “Us” vs. “Them”.  The worker is no longer an "Us" he is a "Them."  If a worker fails to read the changes in attitude for what it is he will be at an disadvantage in both job security and protecting his rights. 

The recorded or written statement itself is bad enough but it is more important that the worker recognize the employer's demand for a statement in the larger context.  We have heard too many good men say that they only want to do the “right thing” and they expect their employer to do likewise.  First of all you cannot transfer your intentions to your company.  Second your company is not a person and the decisions that affect you won’t be made by anyone you know.  Company executives, company lawyers and insurance adjusters will make the decisions about your job and your claim. 

What’s wrong with just “telling your side of the story?” For starters, when you give your side of the story you better have perfect recall because if you ever change your story by one word company lawyers will accuse you of lying.  Your story better exactly match the witness’s statement too.  Company lawyers and adjusters know how to change “molehills into mountains” and “black into white” without much effort.

Consider this, you enter a room and see a conference table, a court reporter with a small machine that looks like a cross between a typewrite and an adding machine.  There are several people in the room some you know and others you have never met.  They tell you where to sit and that they are going to take a statement from you.  The court reporter with the small machine asks you to raise your right hand and swear to tell the whole truth, which you do with good intentions.

Next, one of them starts talking and asks you to identify yourself by giving your name, address and telephone number.  Then, the person asking the questions says "Mr. Worker how are you doing today?"  You answer "Fine, thank you".  Later on the company will use this to show that you were feeling "Fine" and not suffering any pain and had no complaints related to your injury.  If you are injured you are not “fine”.

This is just the beginning and it only gets worse from here.  The person asking the questions may ask about all of your doctor's visits from the time you were born until now.  If you forget to tell them that you had chicken pox or the measles they will use this against you in the future.  If you broke your arm in elementary school or if you had your appendix removed you better have a good memory or this too will be used against you.

What if today, sitting in a comfortable chair at a conference table with coffee in your hand, you do not feel any pain?  Do you tell them you have no pain?  What if your pain comes and goes what do you tell them?  Have you ever noticed that sometimes the pain gets worse the next day? Can you hear how you would sound saying, “the pain isn’t that bad” and then two weeks later saying “I can hardly move?”  Pain can get worse as time passes.  You will have good days and bad days.  Your employer's lawyers and the insurance company know all the tricks of the trade and it’s their job to reduce the amount of money that they have to pay.  The biggest advantage they have is to take a recorded statement from you before you hire a lawyer and turn your words against you to save a buck.

If you have already given a statement and you are currently receiving maintenance checks and medical care you cannot rest easy.  Maintenance and cure are more or less automatic and do not relate to fault.  Giving a statement does not usually affect maintenance or cure but your statement can seriously affect your claim for person injury damages.  Previous job injuries, non-job injuries, diseases, accidents, prior claims, criminal history, marital history, drug use, prior employment history and almost anything in your life becomes relevant to the size of your settlement.

A Maritime lawyer can help manage and minimize negative personal information if the worker gives the lawyer a full and truthful history.  A worker should leave nothing out so that the lawyer can go to work on how to minimize its impact.  What a client tells his lawyer is privileged information and the lawyer cannot divulge the secrets of his client to anyone.  The communications between lawyer and client are confidential and the lawyer cannot reveal anything that the clients has said without the client's express permission.  All of this to say that the injured worker must tell his lawyer everything so that the lawyer can do his job properly and maximize the worker's settlement.

What an injured workers Should Do is to just say “No” when it comes to any kind of written statement, recorded statement, deposition or any request for the worker to sign anything.  The worker should tell the employer or adjuster that he wants to speak to a lawyer before signing anything.  An employer of his representatives may threaten you or promise you the moon to get you to cooperate but you should stand firm and talk to a lawyer first.  If they are going to fire you, why mess up a potentially large Jones Act settlement that you are going to need when you can’t do your job in the future.