Thomas R. Patterson

Thomas R. Patterson is a lawyer at Patterson Dahlberg. Located in Rochester, Minnesota, he focuses his practice exclusively on workers' compensation matters, providing assistance to clients throughout the southern and southeastern parts of the state who have been injured in workplace accidents or who have developed an occupational disease as a result of the exposure to toxic substances. In Minnesota, all employers, regardless of the number of employees they have, are required by law to either purchase workers' compensation insurance coverage or be approved by the state Department of Commerce to be self-insured if they provide proof of their ability to do so, and thus Mr. Patterson helps his clients to seek their rightful benefits.

Mr. Patterson advises his clients of their rights, including choosing their own health care provider instead of being forced to use one specified by their employer. They also have the right to challenge the insurance company's average weekly wage calculations on which partial wage replacement is based. They are allowed to receive both workers' compensation benefits and Social Security Disability benefits at the same time, and they have the ability to challenge a denial of their claim, which is a large part of Mr. Patterson's practice.

As an undergraduate, Mr. Patterson attended Regis University in Denver, Colorado, and he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1986. He then pursued a legal education at what was then known as William Mitchell College of Law, now Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and was awarded his Juris Doctor in 1989. A native of Rochester, he is admitted to practice before all Minnesota state courts, and he is a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association.