St. Louis-based law firm opens Springfield office

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Springfield now is home to the fourth location of St. Louis-based Evans & Dixon LLC, a law firm that focuses its practice on workers' compensation de-fense. |ret||ret||tab|

Springfield attorney Rebecca J. Tatlow, a partner with Evans & Dixon, heads the firm's local office at 1200 E. Woodhurst, Ste. L-200, in the Woodhurst Office Park. The Springfield of-fice, which also opened in November, employs associate Shari Lockhart and receptionist Cindy Samford.|ret||ret||tab|

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Representing companies|ret||ret||tab|

Evans & Dixon is hired by workers' compensation insurance companies to represent businesses whose employees have initiated lawsuits, Tatlow said. |ret||ret||tab|

When an employee is hurt on the job, companies are required by law to make sure they re-ceive appropriate treatment and to pay appropriate benefits as necessary, she said.|ret||ret||tab|

"When someone is injured, if they don't resolve their case and they sue their employer, then the employer has an insurance policy that ensures and provides them a defense, and their insurance company hires us to de-fend them," Tatlow added.|ret||ret||tab|

About 95 percent of workers' comp claims are settled outside the courtroom, Tatlow said. Her firm usually gets involved with those that are not. |ret||ret||tab|

"By the time attorneys get in-volved, usually there's a question about the case, either whether or not it actually happened on the job ... or there's a question about how seriously someone is injured, whether or not they're able to work or whether they might be exaggerating their symptoms." |ret||ret||tab|

Other issues include looking at the cause of an injury or an illness whe-ther it was something in the workplace or a pre-existing medical condition.|ret||ret||tab|

Tatlow said businesses don't make the decision not to pay a workers' compensation case lightly, because failure to pay without good reason adds fines and other costs.|ret||ret||tab|

"Most businesses want to take care of their employees, and there's normally sympathy for someone who's injured on the job," she said. |ret||ret||tab|

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Small businesses|ret||ret||tab|

By law, Tatlow said, companies with five or more employees must have workers' compensation insurance. For construction-related companies, the coverage must be in place if there is one or more employees. Many of the companies that Evans & Dixon represents have little more than the requisite five employees.|ret||ret||tab|

"A fraudulent workers' compensation case for them can make the difference between closing or keeping their doors open. So it's very important to our clients to be able to have an attorney that they can talk to, who they can get to actually defend their business."|ret||ret||tab|

During her years as an attorney, Tatlow said she's seen several unique cases. One involved a nurse's aide who was changing a bed and scratched her hand, after which she received a tetanus shot. She ended up paralyzed.|ret||ret||tab|

"The question was whether or not she had a reaction to the tetanus shot that caused her paralysis, or whether her paralysis was the result of some other medical condition," Tatlow said. The case was settled out of court, she added, because the doctors couldn't agree on the cause of her condition. |ret||ret||tab|

In another case, a bouncer at a local establishment was shot in the calf at his place of employment, and the employer maintained that the worker wasn't scheduled to work at the time he was shot. In the end, it was determined that the man was shot by another man because they were arguing about a dancer from another establishment, and he was not on the clock.|ret||ret||tab|

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Local presence|ret||ret||tab|

Tatlow has been a practicing attorney for the past decade. She spent some time as an attorney in the Attorney General's Office, and most recently worked with the firm of Whiteaker and Wilson PC. |ret||ret||tab|

Lockhart graduated from law school in 1998, and prior to joining Evans & Dixon, she worked for the Attorney General's Office, defending the Second Injury Fund and also doing some insurance defense work for the state.|ret||ret||tab|

Both Tatlow and Lockhart got involved with Evans & Dixon by working with Bill Ringer, the managing partner of the firm's Kansas City office. |ret||ret||tab|

Evans & Dixon had represented southwest Missouri businesses for several years, and the firm felt that business in this area warranted the opening of a Springfield office. |ret||ret||tab|

The local office also covers Branson, West Plains, Rolla, Lebanon, Camden-ton, Joplin and Neosho, and is open 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. [[In-content Ad]]