Most injured workers have seen a courtroom only on television, so a comp case headed to court brings to mind a jury box and a surprise witness. The real thing is quieter, more paper-heavy, and far more predictable, which is good news, because predictable means you can prepare.
Here is the full life of a contested Nebraska comp case, from petition to appeal. If your claim was just denied, start with my page on denied workers' comp claims; this is the next chapter.
The court itself
The Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court is a separate court with its own judges and its own rules of procedure. It hears only comp disputes, and there is no jury. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-177, a judge is assigned to your case the moment the petition is filed, and the trial is held in the county where the accident occurred unless both sides agree in writing to move it. Hearings that don't involve evidence, and some that do if the court and the parties agree, can be held by phone or video.
Step one: the petition
A case starts when someone files a petition under § 48-173. Two details in that statute surprise people. First, "either party at interest" may file, so occasionally it's the employer or insurer who starts the case. Second, the filing is "without cost" to the person filing.
The statute lists what the petition must contain: the parties and where they live, the facts about your job when you were hurt, "the injury in its extent and character," your wages at the time, how the employer learned of the injury, and the specific matters in dispute along with your position on each.
That last part matters most. A good petition names the issues precisely: compensability, temporary disability from a particular date, a specific surgery, the wage rate. One limit to know: you can't file a petition only to argue that a medical treatment is reasonable and necessary until the court's independent medical examiner has issued a finding on that question. My IME page explains both kinds of exams.
And the clock still governs everything. Under § 48-137, a claim is "forever barred" unless the parties agree on compensation or a petition is filed within two years after the accident, though if benefits were paid, the two years run from "the last payment." My guide on how to file a claim covers the steps before the petition.
Step two: the summons and the answer
Once the petition is filed, a summons goes out with a copy of it. Under § 48-174, the return of service is due within 14 days of the date the summons issues. Then § 48-176 gives the employer just seven days after that return day to file an answer that will "admit or deny the substantial averments of the petition" and state its own position on each disputed issue.
Read the answer closely. It is the first time the defense must commit, in a court filing, to what it actually disputes. Sometimes it admits that the accident happened at work, and the fight narrows to causation or the extent of disability. Either way, it tells you what the trial will be about.
Step three: discovery
Under the court's Rule 4, discovery in comp cases follows the Nebraska Supreme Court's general discovery rules. In practice that means:
- Written questions (interrogatories) about your work history, prior injuries and treatment.
- Requests for documents such as medical records and pay stubs.
- Depositions: sworn questioning with a court reporter and no judge present.
Your own deposition is the most important event in this phase. I wrote about what the defense lawyer is trying to accomplish in it, and how honest preparation defeats it, on my denied claims page, so I won't repeat that here. Two related reads: anything you told the adjuster in a recorded statement will be compared to your testimony line by line, and so will your public social media posts.
If English isn't your first language: the court's Rule 5 says it "shall appoint an interpreter" for a person who can't readily understand or communicate in English. The request should be filed within 30 days after the petition, or as soon as the need becomes known, and the employer is the one that arranges the interpreter.
Step four: mediation and the pretrial conference
Many contested comp cases settle before trial, and the court has built machinery for that. Section 48-168 lets the court send a dispute to informal resolution handled by a court staff member or an outside mediator. Under the court's Rule 48, any party can ask for it, and a judge can order it on his or her own.
Confidentiality makes mediation work. The mediator can't report to the trial judge beyond whether it occurred, who attended and whether it settled, and the process is treated as settlement negotiations, so what you say there generally can't be used as evidence later.
Two protections come with it. Any settlement must be voluntary, and it isn't binding unless it conforms with the Workers' Compensation Act. Some settlements also need the court's approval; my page on settlement approval and Medicare explains when.
The court may also call a pretrial conference under Rule 6, which can produce a pretrial order defining the issues and controlling the trial. Skipping one, or showing up unprepared, can bring sanctions up to a default order.
Step five: the trial
Here is where television misleads people most.
One judge, no jury. The judge assigned when the petition was filed hears the evidence and decides the facts. Under § 48-178, testimony is recorded, and the judge who heard the case signs the decision.
It's usually short. Under Rule 7, a trial is set for half a day unless a party tells the court at least 45 days ahead that it needs more or less time.
The rules of evidence are relaxed. Section 48-168 says the court "shall not be bound by the usual common-law or statutory rules of evidence." The Nebraska Supreme Court has said this lets the comp court admit some evidence a district court would have to exclude.
Doctors usually testify on paper. This is the biggest difference from a car-crash trial. The court's Rule 10 lets the judge receive a signed physician's report "in lieu of or in addition to" live testimony, and the same goes for reports from vocational rehabilitation experts, physical therapists and psychologists. A transcribed deposition counts as a signed report. The other side can cross-examine the author, but at its own initial expense, by deposition or by bringing the author to the hearing.
So the medical fight is mostly won or lost in the wording of the reports. A treating doctor's "may have contributed" can lose to an IME report stating a firm conclusion. My page on proving medical causation covers the language that holds up. Earning-capacity evidence works the same way: a functional capacity evaluation or a vocational counselor's loss-of-earning-power opinion (see my post on vocational rehabilitation) usually arrives as a signed document.
You will testify. In cases like this, the injured worker is nearly always the central live witness: how the injury happened and what you can and can't do now. Coworkers or a family member may testify too, and the defense may call a manager or a surveillance investigator.
Bring everything that day. Rule 10 says that unless "exceptional cause is shown and extremely unusual circumstances exist, all evidence shall be submitted at the time of hearing." The record usually closes when the trial ends. A report that arrives the following week may never be considered.
Step six: the decision
The judge typically doesn't rule from the bench. Under Rule 11, the written decision must "specify the evidence upon which the judge relies," so you'll see exactly which reports and which testimony the judge believed. Under § 48-180, the court can modify its own decision within 14 days, before an appeal, which is how a math error gets fixed.
Step seven: appeal
Nebraska used to have a review step inside the comp court, where a panel of judges reviewed the trial judge. The legislature eliminated it in 2011; the old review statute, § 48-179, now reads "Repealed." Today, under § 48-185, a losing party files a notice of appeal with the comp court clerk within 30 days after the judgment, and the case goes to Nebraska's appellate courts. No motion for a new trial is allowed.
The key sentence in that statute: the comp court's judgment "shall have the same force and effect as a jury verdict in a civil case." An appeal is not a second trial. The judgment can be changed only on four grounds, including that the court exceeded its powers or that there isn't "sufficient competent evidence in the record" to support it. The appellate judges read the transcript; they don't hear new witnesses.
Under § 48-182, the trial transcript (called the bill of exceptions) is due within seven weeks of the notice of appeal, and a worker who can't afford it can ask the court to waive the cost by affidavit.
How long does all of this take?
I won't give you a number, because no rule sets one. The factors that drive it are knowable, though: whether you've reached maximum medical improvement (a permanent-disability fight often can't be tried until you have), how many doctors need deposing, the judge's calendar, and whether a continuance is granted, which under Rule 8 requires good cause.
Three hypotheticals
These are made-up scenarios, not real clients or cases.
The causation fight. A warehouse picker's back surgery is denied as "degenerative," and her surgeon's notes say only that lifting "could" be related. Before trial, the surgeon signs a report stating the lifting aggravated the condition and made surgery necessary. The judge weighs that against the IME report and her testimony, with neither doctor in the room.
The case that settles. A meatpacking worker disputes his wage rate and shoulder impairment. After depositions, the judge refers the case to court-staff mediation, where both sides test their numbers openly because nothing said reaches the judge.
The appeal. A roofer wins, and the insurer appeals, arguing the judge believed the wrong doctor. Because the award carries a jury verdict's weight, the appellate court asks whether competent evidence supports it, not whether it would have picked the other doctor.
Mistakes that cost workers at trial
- Letting treating doctors go unasked. A good chart note isn't the same as a clear causation opinion. Get the opinion in writing before the record closes.
- Testifying differently than you did in your deposition. The transcript will be in the judge's hands.
- Stopping treatment while the case is pending. Gaps become the defense's best exhibit.
- Overstating or minimizing. The judge decides credibility, and that finding is hard to overturn.
Why injured workers call me when their case is headed to trial
A comp trial is decided mostly before anyone walks into the courtroom: in the petition's wording, in the deposition, in the precise sentence a surgeon signs. I build that record from the first week, and I prepare every case as if the judge will decide it, because that is what makes insurers negotiate seriously. I'm a trial attorney, and I fight hard for the people who trust me with their claims. My clients have recovered more than $24 million, including a top recovery of $5.4 million, and you can read what they say about working with me in many five-star reviews. My firm was voted Best of Omaha for Personal Injury Law Firm in both 2025 and 2026.
If you have a petition on file, or you think you're going to need one, talk to an Omaha work injury lawyer who tries these cases. Call (402) 378-9208 or tell me about your claim here. The consultation is free, and I'm paid only if I win money for you.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a jury in a Nebraska workers' comp trial?
- No. One judge of the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court hears the evidence and decides the case, usually in the county where the accident happened.
- Do my doctors have to come to court?
- Usually not. The court's Rule 10 allows signed reports from physicians, vocational experts, physical therapists and psychologists to be received instead of live testimony, though the other side can cross-examine the author by deposition or at the hearing at its own initial expense.
- How long do I have to appeal a workers' comp decision?
- A notice of appeal must be filed with the compensation court clerk within 30 days after the judgment under § 48-185. The appellate court treats the judgment like a jury verdict and won't simply retry the facts.
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Frank Younes
Every page on this site is written by Frank Younes, a Nebraska trial attorney with a published record of verdicts and settlements, selection to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and a practice that covers every county in Nebraska and Iowa. No case is handed to an associate — the lawyer you read here is the lawyer who works your case.
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