Ed's Story
Ed Swierbinski
Police Department Workers’ Comp
Ed Swierbinski, a Community Restitution Coordinator at the Elgin Police Department, happened to be on snow duty during the big snowfall of 2011. Cars were fishtailing all over the place, getting stuck on the expressway, abandoned. There was a big shake-up at City Hall as to who could better handle the mess.
Snow duty in Elgin meant actually putting on his boots during downtime and physically getting out and removing four-foot drifts of snow from the entrance to the offices. The gigantic equipment was unfamiliar to operate and it slipped away from Ed at the end of the driveway. He could not turn it around. Ed tumbled and landed sprawled on the ice.
The next day, his entire arm was black and blue. His shoulders, his arms, his knees, his legs were in severe pain that lasted into the next weeks.
“I’m going home every night and eating 800 milligrams of Ibuprofen, and then, I’m icing it,” he said.
He toughed it out for two months – and then he called his old friend Ryan Theriault, who worked with him for years at the police department. Theriault had moved on to become a lawyer. Ed learned Theriault had joined Meyers & Flowers, a Chicago law firm with a team of workers’ compensation attorneys renowned for protecting their clients and obtaining large settlements for injuries in the line of duty, which turned out to be a very good thing for Ed. After 17 years working for the police department, Ed was facing a bleak future.
Ed knew workers’ comp cases could drag on for years unless he had a legal team that acted quickly and decisively. He was comforted to learn that Theriault and his law firm Meyers & Flowers had an excellent reputation and a team of specialists who could cut through delays and avoid costly mistakes. Add to the experience of the firm, Ed had the highest professional respect for Theriault.
Turned out during the accident on the ice, Ed had torn the meniscus in his left knee and ruptured the bicep in his right arm. Theriault and his team at Meyers & Flowers law firm set Ed up on a path to recovering his health with a recommendation to a surgeon who operated on his shoulders and knees.
“Ryan is one of those type of people, not just attorneys, but a person, who goes out there and aims to get the best possible deal to bring to his clients,” Ed said. “When he brought back the first deal, I said, ‘Is this the best we can do?’ He said, ’I can push them a little more,’ and he called me back less than half an hour later, and the deal was significantly increased.“
The settlement has helped Ed to take early retirement.
“For the most part, I’m back to a hundred percent,” Ed said. Of Meyers & Flowers, he cannot say enough. He has now recommended additional family members to the firm.