Attorney Manny Franco Helps Resolve Legal Matters
Expert Legal Insights: Navigating Workers’ Comp, Social Security Disability, and Auto Accident Claims with Attorney Manny Franco
Finding the right legal representation can be overwhelming, especially when dealing with the aftermath of an injury or a complex disability claim. Attorney Manny Franco, who brings over 35 years of experience to his practice, emphasizes that early communication and expert guidance are essential to protecting your rights and securing the results you deserve.
The Advantage of a Bilingual and Experienced Firm
One of the primary factors that sets Manny Franco’s firm apart is its deep commitment to the Spanish-speaking community. Having a bilingual staff and an attorney fluent in Spanish ensures that nothing is “lost in translation” during critical legal proceedings like depositions.
- Direct Communication: Clients can speak their own language and have their emails read and understood directly by their legal team.
- Empowerment: This level of clear communication allows clients to feel heard and fully understand their legal rights.
Workers’ Compensation: Protecting Your Livelihood
Many employees hesitate to report workplace injuries due to fear of employer retaliation or confusion over the process.
- Reporting Timelines: Under the statute, employees typically have 30 days to report an injury.
- Employer Obstacles: Even if an employer fails to report a claim or discourages legal action, it is rarely “too late” to seek help.
- First Priority: The most critical first step after a workplace accident is to seek immediate medical attention. Franco notes that administrative details like lost wages and bills can be sorted out later; physical health must come first.
Social Security Disability (SSD): Overcoming Denials
The Social Security Administration defines disability as an inability to work due to a condition that lasts, or is expected to last, at least one year.
- High Denial Rates: More than 80% of initial claims are denied.
- The Appeal Process: If denied, applicants have 60 days to appeal. Franco’s firm assists through the entire process, including representation before an Administrative Law Judge.
- Beyond Age: Disability benefits are not just for the elderly; they are available to younger individuals who have suffered severe accidents or diseases like cancer or tumors.
- Medicare Eligibility: Successfully obtaining SSD benefits can lead to Medicare eligibility after two years and five months.
Auto Accidents: The 14-Day Rule
In the event of a car accident, time is of the essence due to specific Florida statutes.
- Medical Window: You must seek medical treatment within 14 days of an accident to remain eligible for benefits.
- PIP and UM Coverage: Florida requires Personal Injury Protection (PIP), but Franco strongly advises drivers to carry Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage to protect themselves against drivers without bodily injury insurance.
- Evidence Gathering: If possible, take pictures of all vehicles involved immediately following the crash.
Free Consultations and Contingency Fees
A common barrier to seeking legal help is the fear of cost. Franco clarifies that for workers’ compensation, personal injury, and Social Security cases, his firm operates on a contingency fee basis.
- No Upfront Cost: Consultations are entirely free.
- Paid on Results: The firm only gets paid at the end of the case once a resolution is reached.
“Experience, communication, and results. It doesn’t hurt to get advice, and it doesn’t hurt to know what you’re entitled to.” — Manny Franco
For more information or to discuss a potential case, visit FrancoFirm.com.
Full Transcription of interview:
Most people don’t think they need an attorney until it’s too late. Then you may be— Most people don’t think they need an attorney until it’s too late. Then you may be scrambling to find the best one.
So what do you need to look for?
Well, attorney Manny Franco is here to help and share what makes his firm different. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for being here.
So tell us about your firm and what does it do? Set you apart?
Well, it’s a small firm, first of all. Second, I’ve been doing it for over thirty-five years now, and having a bilingual staff, myself fluent in Spanish, majority of my clients are Spanish-speaking. So I reach out to a lot of Spanish-speaking, have a lot of Spanish-speaking clients who can help speak their language, read their emails, converse with them and give them information that they need in order for them to know their rights.
Why is that important to have someone that speaks the same language as you?
Well, there’s a lot of things lost in translation. I sit through a lot of depositions. Sometimes I have to correct the translator. Mm-hmm. That’s not what he said. So yes, having someone translating, even if you have an assistant who has to translate for the attorney, it’s a lot different from the assistant themselves being able to speak their language also.
Yeah, they want to be heard and make sure that what they’re saying is correct.
Correct.
That’s really important. What would you say to somebody who’s sitting there and they’re unsure about calling an attorney?
Well, it depends on what type of injury. For example, in workers’ comp, we get a lot of them that say, “Hey, I’ve been hurt, but, you know, my supervisor didn’t send me to the hospital. My employer didn’t get me treatment.” I’m having problems with my back, you know, what do I do? Do they report it? Did they report it timely? Did they report it to their supervisor, HR? You know, where do they go from there? And that’s what they’re usually asking for. People don’t want to get hurt and people don’t want to lose their jobs, but unfortunately it does happen.
And it’s good to have those answers, at least from someone, even if you’re unsure, just ask questions. Right?
Correct.
And I think people watching may be wondering, well, I don’t know if I need an attorney. I don’t know how much this is going to cost. Does it cost anything just to call you to find out if it’s worth an attorney getting involved?
In workers’ comp, personal injury, Social Security, usually it doesn’t cost you anything. We work on contingency fees. We get paid at the end. So it doesn’t hurt to get advice. It doesn’t hurt to know what you’re entitled to. There’s no charge for the consultation. Consultations are free. And we’re here to just essentially help you out, give you the advice you need, and sometimes it does pursue litigation.
You mentioned workers’ compensation, and that’s what your firm is, you know, has some focus on. So when people are thinking that they’re in this kind of situation, they want to have that consultation call with you, you really are the people to call because you know this.
Correct. And again, I’ve been doing it for, for many years. You know, one of my mottos is first; experience, communication, which is very important, and then results. You know, do you do a good job for your client? And that’s how the majority of my clients come to me, through other clients, family members, people they know, coworkers.
Word of mouth is great.
Word of mouth.
What about for people who got injured on the job? They may be worried about losing their job and their boss tells them not to call an attorney. What advice do you have for them?
Well, unfortunately, it happens more often than not. Certain companies don’t want to report claims. Like you reporting an auto accident. If it’s your fault, you really don’t want to report it to your insurance company. How can I take care of this? So sometimes we see clients like that. And, you know, my recommendation, use a good HR. If there’s an HR. If there isn’t, go to a coworker. Hey, did you see this accident? Hey, I reported it. I asked for medical treatment. You wouldn’t do anything with it. It’s never too late. Under the statute, they have 30 days to report an injury. So it’s not— and even then, I get clients sometimes who show up six months later. I was like, well, how come you didn’t come to me? Well, the employer knew, but he just never reported it. And again, sometimes we get into litigation.
What is the very first thing somebody should do if they find themselves in this situation?
Well, again, first and foremost, get medical attention. If it’s an emergency, and I’ve had some doozy clients truly get trapped in a ditch, some of them do go to the hospital by ambulance, but if you don’t go to the hospital and you go to a clinic, get medical attention. The rest will sort itself out later. The bills, the lost wages, those type of things will come soon enough, but make sure you get medical attention. So that’s my first advice.
Well, if you want to learn more, of course, and if you feel like this is a time that you want to reach out, you can reach out or check him out at francofirm.com.
We are continuing our conversation with attorney Manny Franco. So now we want to talk about Social Security Disability. So thank you for being here. It’s great to have you here. So let’s start with that Social Security Disability. What exactly is that and who qualifies for something like that?
Well, disability is usually for people who cannot work anymore, uh, although there are other people who don’t work they are disabled. And it doesn’t have to be from an injury. It could be from heart issues. Maybe you’ve got a brain tumor. Maybe you’ve got cancer. So the Social Security Administration defines disability as being unable to work or having a lasting effect for at least a year, over a year. So there is no temporary disability. I have clients who come to me and say, well, am I temporarily disabled? Disabled or not. I said you might be, but will you have that ability to return back to work? So let’s say you are involved in an accident or an injury and you recover from that injury and get back to work, or disabled in the future. And those are why people need help. Social Security Administration denies a lot of claims. Probably more than 80 percent of the initial claims are denied by the Social Security Administration. Usually that’s when people come to me when they get a denial. We look at the medical records, we look at whether they meet a listing, whether they meet the Grids, which are also guidelines under Social Security, and whether they can return back to work. And some of them just apply in order to get Medicare, because after two years and five months, you would be eligible for Medicare benefits, and that would give you medical treatment in the future. So Social Security is something that is not just for old people, I’ve got young clients who are disabled, been in terrible accidents. I’ve got some who’ve got terrible diseases. It could be anything, like I said, from a tumor to cancer to something that prevents them not only from doing work activities but from doing any major activities of daily living, which is very hard. Yeah, very hard.
How does someone know if their injury or their condition is serious enough to apply?
Well, that’s a good question. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Sometimes the Social Security Administration doesn’t feel that it’s significant enough medically-wise. There are forms that the Social Security Administration uses that we have that we give to our clients for them to take to the doctors to complete, and these doctors will fill them out, and sometimes those forms will get them disability sooner rather than later. But usually there’s a denial process and an appeals process, and then you got to go to— the last step is going to an administrative law judge, going to a hearing. And we do those, we go through the whole process sometimes. Sometimes I get to the judge and they accept them right away, and sometimes they deny them because they think they could do other types of work. For example, you know, is it a heavy construction worker that no longer can do construction work. And we look at the limitations and their transferable skills. Can they be an attorney? Yeah.
Yeah.
Can that construction worker now be an attorney? Probably not without the education, license.
Right.
And those type of skills. So, you know, they’re not going to put them in my job, which is mostly sedentary.
Yeah.
So I think that when you’re hearing that, it sounds— that’s scary to think that I want to make this claim, it could get denied. At what point should somebody then be calling you to get help with this process?
Well, the sooner the better. I always say early on, if you went ahead and applied and you got denied, you got sixty days to appeal that. And then once you appeal it, they have— the administration has another sixty days to do a reconsideration on that appeal. We want to get involved as soon as possible. Usually we have all the medical records we need to get, have the forms completed by the doctors, and that puts us in a better position to get to the civilian.
I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about car accidents, something that I know a lot of people know a little bit about. So what is the first thing you should do if you find yourself in a car accident?
Again, we get into that situation. If you’re severely injured, make sure you call 911 and get an ambulance out. You know, we see a lot of fender benders. We see a lot of crashes that are more significant at a later point. At first, most people are very anxious. They don’t know what to do. I always say make sure you take some pictures. Your vehicle, the other vehicle. You know, sometimes we have people come in where it was their fault. Most of the time it’s not their fault, it was someone else’s fault. The most typical ones you see are the rear-end collisions. But yes, make sure you get treatment right away. Under the statute, you have 14 days. If you don’t do it, you’ll have a very difficult time to get any benefits in the future. Uh, but yes, you’ve got two things in auto accidents. You’ve got property damage, get your car fixed. Um, then you’ve got bodily injury. Um, Florida right now only requires personal injury protection, called PIP. Uh, and a lot of people don’t have bodily injury protection. I always tell clients, do you have uninsured motorists? If you don’t, that’s something that you should get too, to protect yourself the event that somebody runs into you that didn’t have bodily injury coverage. Yeah. But yes, real simple, if you’re really that bad off, call 911. Most people will go to the clinics, get treatments. Most of the accidents you see are involving back and neck. Every once in a while you see some more significant injuries, broken arms, legs.
Should you go to the doctor anytime even if you feel okay, is that something that you should do?
You have that 14-day window. Correct. And you should at least just get checked out. Mm-hmm. And again, whether it’s your primary doctor or a clinic, it could be any doctor.
How do I know if I have a case big enough to bring to an attorney?
Well, sometimes you don’t, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Again, there’s no cost in talking to an attorney. The first thing we do is try to find out what kind of coverage you’re Liability is always an issue. Whose fault was it? You know, you come into some interesting situations. Two people coming to a four-way stop. Well, who ran the stop sign? Sometimes you get into that. Oh no, they ran it. No, you ran it. Rear ends or getting hit from behind is really easy. Player liability, usually. You know, head-on collisions, sometimes we have investigations that we have to do. More and more places have cameras, and sometimes we ask for cameras. A gas station, a bank, you know, is facing the street, or maybe the signal itself had a camera. Yeah, it’s worth calling you because you’re going to be able to direct us in that direction.
Yeah, absolutely. Well, great.
Well, Manny, thank you for being here. This is really great advice on so many different topics.
Yes, absolutely.
So we certainly appreciate it.
I appreciate that. If you want to learn more about how Manny, his team can help you, maybe you just have some questions, you want to see where you stand, go to his website, FrancoFirm.com.
