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Workers' Compensation
- Key Risk + Company Doctor + Light Duty Job = Disaster
- Workers' Comp Adjusters are using private investigators more and more
- What do you really want in your workers' comp claim?
- The Problem with Company Doctors, Part I
- Kid's Chance Golf Tournament
Personal Injury
- The McDonald's Coffee Burn Lawsuit
- Ensign Amendment Fails --- Good News for Malpractice Victims
- City of Charlotte to Settle Wrongful Death Lawsuit for Driver Killed By Falling Tree
- Seat Belts = Safety
- Personal Injury Legal Team Welcomes Laurie Stegall
Social Security Disability
- Update on the SSA Using Electronic Medical Records
- Apply for SSD On Your Computer
- Disability Claims Processing Data
- GAO Follows SSA's Efforts to End Hearings Delays
- Fixing a Broken Mental Health System
General
Firm News
- When the injured worker returned to work he was immediately fired...
- Workers' Compensation: The IC ruled that the employer, who willingly paid the medical claim and workers comp for the employee's foot injury, must also pay for pain management because this injury aggravated the employee's pre-existing fibromyalgia and hypertension and was now considered a chronic condition. Although it is tough to win these claims we can usually do it if we the treating physician will agree that the pre-existing condition is worse now than it was and that this change is due to the worker's comp accident....
- Workers' Compensation: The Industrial Commission denied the employee's claim for temporary partial disability compensation. The Commission ruled that the reduction in wages that our client received was because of problems with the company's workload due to the economy. It was determined that he didn't receive less pay because of his injury or from the less-paying job within the company that he had to take because of the injury....
- Workers' Compensation: The NC Industrial Commission determined that the employer was required to pay our client's medical bills and also continue workers' compensation payments until our client could find a job with his limited physical capabilities. The employer was unable to find work for him at the company and he was fired, which was unacceptable, although it was explained by the employer as happening because of excessive absences....
- Workers' Compensation: The North Carolina Industrial Commission threatened to hold CNA in contempt of court because they refused to authorize the medical tests which would prove that the plaintiff was unable to do his job. This was a classic example of an adjuster getting an opinion from a reliable doctor and then refusing any other evaluation which could help the injured worker....
- Workers Compensation: The North Carolina Industrial Commission held that National Benefits Association had wrongfully denied this claim for more than a year...but only when the Industrial Commission finally heard all the evidence -- that the employer admitted that they knew the plaintiff was hurt, that they had sent him to a doctor but didn't follow his direction, and that there was no way our client could do his job with his severely-injured back....
- Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission says Liberty Mutual must provide yardcare and housecleaning to an injured brickmason....
- Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission rules that a restaurant dishwasher who slipped and fell, and was taken straight to an emergency room has proven that he was injured on the job....
- Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission finds that Diebold and Broadspire MUST pay weekly benefits even after they fired the injured worker from her "light duty" job....
- Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission rules against The Hartford Insurance Company and holds that a nurse who was still on her employer's property when she was hit by a car is within the course and scope of her employment and entitled to workers' compensation benefits....
Library
Workers' Compensation
- Psssst! Who's that following you?
- NCIC Form 25T: Mileage Reimbursement form
- Form 28T: Notice of Termination of Compensation by Reason of Trial Return to Work
- Form 33R: Response to Request that Claim Be Assigned for Hearing
- 10 Things Your Insurance Adjuster Won't Tell You (download)
Personal Injury
- Police Report/ Accident Report Samples
- Auto Insurance Declaration Page
- Certificate of Employment
- What to Do in Case of an Auto Accident
- How Uninsured Motorist Insurance protects you in a personal injury claim.
Social Security Disability
- Healthcare Clinics in NC with free service
- Free Clinics in Forsyth County
- Form SSA 3381
- Form SSA 827
- Form SSA 561
General
Testimonials
"I wanted expert legal advice and I certainly got it!"
"Oxner Thomas Permar has a well-known reputation for fighting fair and winning cases. We were well-prepared by our attorney, and we were given thorough guidance and options."
"I think of everyone involved on my case at OTP as friends. You all always had a warm greeting and a smile for me and you took a big interest in my case."
"Without my attorney's help, I would have been hung out to dry. He looked out for me!"
"I could not be more pleased with the outcome of my case! Amy Berry and Amy Gallimore are great communicators. They are super friendly and professional."
"Everyone on the team was really personable and professional."
"Count me as 100% satisfied. Kristin Packard is superb and Shelby Duncan is outstanding."
"The quick response and action by Justin Wraight when my case came to a critical point was impressive."
"I didn't have to deal with a bunch of legal jargon. You explained it all to me so I could understand what was going on, and I appreciate that."
"Everybody was totally straight forward with me. I didn't feel like I was just paperwork to them."
Workers' Compensation
Key Risk + Company Doctor + Light Duty Job = Disaster
The workers' compensation adjuster sent the injured worker to a doctor who would release him to light duty work, and when he did return to light duty work she stopped his checks. Within hours of the adjuster stopping the checks, the employer fired him for an "offense" committed before the accident ever happened, months before.Workers' Comp Adjusters are using private investigators more and more
Pssst! Who's that following you? If you are an injured worker, there's a good chance that your adjuster has hired a private investigator to stir up trouble in your case.The Problem with Company Doctors, Part I
This company doctor released our client to full duty work only two months after he performed a cervical fusion on her. Then the insurance company filed a Form 24 to cut off her checks.What do you really want in your workers' comp claim?
Injured workers tell me they want to get better, they want to return to work, and they want to get back to normal. So why do many insurance adjusters, company doctors, and politicians say that injured workers will do anything -- even have unnecessary surgeries -- just to make money?Kid's Chance Golf Tournament
Workers' compensation, personal injury, and social security disability attorneys are sponsoring the 2010 Kid's Chance Golf Tournament, raising scholarship money for the children of injured workers.Are Company Doctors Accurately Reporting Workplace Injuries?
Raleigh Office Adds John Landry
Kristin Packard Joins Charlotte Office
Todd Oxner on Board of Directors at WILG
Todd Oxner recently joined the Board of Directors of the Workers Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG) based in Washington, DC. This non-profit organization promotes the rights of injured workers by joining together plaintiff attorneys across the country. The group shares knowledge and offers support, all in the interest of helping injured workers and their families.COBRA Health Insurance Subsidy Update
Devin Thomas Selected for Dispute Resolution Council
Tom Clare Achieves Board Certification Designation
Tom Clare, chief attorney in the Raleigh office, recently passed the Board certification written exam. This elevates Tom to the highest level in the practice of workers' compensation. Less than 2% of all attorneys have passed Board Certification exams. It is one of the highest honors an attorney can receive. Oxner Thomas + Permar is proud to now have four Board Certified attorneys.What drives me crazy after nearly 15 years of doing workers' comp?
I've got a list:
- Insurance company adjusters who take advantage of an injured workers' unfamiliarity with the law.
- When the Industrial Commission rules against an injured worker on a technicality (I believe a tie always goes to an injured worker).
- Workers' Comp attorneys who let adjusters run all over their clients.
- Attorneys who do not provide educational materials to their clients to help them understand what is going on in the case.
- Workers' Compensation attorneys who claim they are "aggressive, experienced, determined, etc.," but never take tough cases to hearings.
What's a fair amount to pay your workers' comp attorney?
The short answer: No more than 25% of the benefits which the attorney gets for you. We never do that.
The long answer: Some attorneys are demanding 25% of an injured worker's checks from the moment he walks in their door. We think that is taking advantage of the workers' comp claimant. That is completely unfair. We don't take cases if we cannot add value to them -- and we don't expect to get paid until we do. You should never have to give up any of your money (which you need to live on) until the lawyer has done something for you. And filing a couple of form letters with the Industrial Commission isn't enough to earn a fee. In fact it is virtually unheard of for the NCIC to award a fee of more than 25%.
As a general rule we think it is improper for a lawyer to take a cut of your weekly check unless she actually went to a hearing to get the checks started, or if he kept the checks going at a hearing. But if an attorney asks you to pay them from the minute they represent you, or if they write a couple of letter and make some phone calls to get checks started and then want 25% of your money forever, you should seriously consider whether they are in it for your best interests or just for your money.
The North Carolina Industrial Commission has raised the mileage reimbursement rates
Effective July 1, 2008 the North Carolina Industrial Commission has raised the mileage reimbursement rate to 58.5 cents per mile on all trips which are 20 miles or more roundtrip. They've followed the IRS' move in this regard.We always handle this reimbursement for our clients. I've heard recently of a couple of law firms who are telling their clients to defer this to the end of the claim when you talk settlement. I think that is a terrible idea for a couple of reasons. First, with gas at or near $4.00 per gallon most injured workers need that money now, not later. Second, if you are entitled to $1,000.00 worth of mileage reimbursements over the course of your claim you should get the full $1,000.00. I suspect that those attorneys are going to take a fee off this -- so you'll only get $750.00 and they'll get $250.
That's crazy, because a contingency fee of 25% is based on the possibility that there may not be a recovery. Yet mileage reimbursements are automatic in accepted claims so there should never be a fee on them.
US Government bails out AIG
Many of you have probably heard that the United States government has bought an 80% stake in AIG. It's not surprising the company got in trouble when it paid its CEO $14,700,000.00 in 2007. That's a nice payday to a guy who ran up three years of losses in a row. Then when AIG finally fired him this June he's getting a severance of up to $68,000,000.00. You can read the full details in The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in our library. AIG is number three on the list.I'm not here to comment on the good or bad of federal bailouts in general, but this may have an effect on everyone, even those who have claims with other carriers. First, we're hearing reports of injured workers' weekly checks bouncing and we've seen AIG bounce checks. So if you've got an AIG claim be aware that this IS happening. Now, more than ever, you need to make sure that your weekly check is in the bank and that it has cleared before you write your own checks with that money. Unfortunately, the Industrial Commission will pretty much limit AIG's penalty to covering your bank charge for depositng a bad check. In our experience they haven't made AIG pay the penalties when some of your own checks bounce as a result of AIG sending you a check they knew or should have none was bad.
Second, the business community has long been lobbying Washington to step in on workers' compensation. This is a primary goal when you hear politicians talking about "tort reform." Obviously businesses and insurance companies would prefer to pay less money to the workers they injure and would love to have Washington politiicians help out on that. So with the US Government now owning 80% of an insurance company does that make it easier to justify changing the laws on workers comp? Especially when changing those laws would make insurance companies more profitable? We'll have to wait and see.
North Carolina Supreme Court rules against injured workers
Our North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled against injured workers again in a recent case. As most of you know an injured worker is entitled to be paid 2/3 of her average weekly wages if she's unable to work. What all goes into "wages?" Ten years ago the Court of Appeals had excluded fringe benefits like health insurance and vacations. That decision was largely based on the idea that it is too hard to put a value on health insurance while it is eay to calculate your hourly payrate or salary. But what about an employer who matches your contributions to a retirement plan? As employers we can tell you that many employees are willing to make a little less if there is good health insurance, vacations, and a retirement plan. Those of you who have had unions negotiating contracts on your behalf know that the cost of the benefit package is a tradeoff against the hourly rate of pay.But now the Supreme Court has said that contributions to your retirement plan -- even if these are made explicitly in exchange for a reduce in your hourly rate of pay -- do not count toward your average weekly wage. In doing so the Court said it would leave it to the legislature to be more specific about what it intended. While this decision might not have been completely unexpected we still find it disappointing. In our minds, if the Industrial Commission or the courts are unclear about who to favor: big employers and their insurance companies on one side or workers injured and out of work on the other, they should always err on the side of helping an injured worker.
Worst North Carolina Industrial Commission ruling I've seen lately
I often remark that I don't understand some of the rulings from the Industrial Commission. Here's an example of one I saw recently.
The attorney for the insurance company, GAB Robbins, arranged for my client to be seen for an Independent Medical Examination with a neurosurgeon. The visit went well, according to both the rehabilitation nurse and our client, but the doctor was very slow in producing the medical records from the visit. I requested the records, the defense attorney requested the records, and the rehab nurse requested them. None of us got anything from the doctor.
While this was frustrating for all of us it certainly appeared that the delay was based solely in the doctor's office. Despite this the attorney for GAB Robbins wrote to the Industrial Commission asking that our client, the injured worker, be ordered to produce the records within 15 days or face termination of her weekly checks. To her credit the defense attorney for GAB Robbins told the Industrial Commission that we had made multiple efforts to obtain the records to no avail.
To our amazement the North Carolina Industrial Commission promptly filed an Order stating that if Dr. So-and-so didn't produce the records within 15 days the injured workers checks could be terminated. How this threat against the injured worker was going to motivate the defendant's hand-picked doctor wasn't stated. Allow me to be very clear here: I don't think the Industrial Commission was trying to be unfair. The problem is that career government types don't understand the real world of dealing with doctors, adjusters, and all. That's how a skilled defense attorney can take advantage of the situation to their clients' benefit.
Some Workers' Comp lawyers are ripping off injured workers
Strong words, I know. But it's true.The Industrial Commission awards attorneys' fees of 25%. In only the rarest of circumstances will they award 33%. (By rare, I mean in about 1 out of 10,000 cases.) So any attorney who says they'll charge 33% if you don't settle your case at mediation is really just trying to intimidate you into settling rather than taking your case to a hearing. Now there are many good reasons to settle at mediation rather than going to a hearing. But doing so out of fear of what YOUR OWN attorney will do to you is certainly not one of them.
Another way lawyers are ripping off their clients is by charging 10 -15% of their weekly checks even if nothing is going on in the case. We believe the only reason an attorney should get 25% of the settlement at the end of the case is because they haven't been paid anything at all for months or years. Thus all the work the attorney has put in on the case is paid out of the settlement at the end of the claim. But if the lawyer is being paid $100 per week just for keeping your file on his bookshelf, and then he is going to try to take 25% of your money at the end of the claim as well, is being unfair in my opinion.
There's little doubt that I've offended a couple of attorneys out there. I'm probably not welcome in their country club circles. But it strikes me as being hypocritical when we, as lawyers, complain about adjusters who victimize our clients but then do the same ourselves.
For the record: Oxner Thomas + Permar only takes 25% fees in workers' comp claims, and we only take them on amounts we win, negotiate, or obtain for you.
OTP Lawyers speaking around the state.
Amy Berry spoke last week at the North Carolina Industrial Commission's 13th Annual Education Conference. This three-day affair was attended by hundred of workers' compensation adjusters, doctors, rehabilitation professionals, and attorneys. Amy spoke about recent North Carolina Court of Appeals cases affecting workers' compensation.
Chip Permar also spoke last week at a North Carolina Bar Association Continuing Legal Education seminar on the issue of what constitutes an accident in workers' compensation. This seminar was so popular that the Bar Assocation is planning on having three video replays around the state.
Our thanks to both Amy and Chip for continuing the firm's long record of educating other workers' comp professionals.
Why does the North Carolina Industrial Commission make an injured worker look for work even when they are on Social Security Disability?
Why does the North Carolina Industrial Commission make an injured worker look for work even after the Social Security Administration says they are disabled? The Court of Appeals looked at the question in a case pitting a Steelcase furniture worker against her employer and Liberty Mutual.
In the case the injured worker wanted to use her receipt of Social Security Disability as evidence that she couldn't work. Unfortunately it failed because she had listed multiple ailments as the basis of her SSD claim.
The standard for getting SSD is the inability to perform substantially gainful activities. This is different than the standard for workers' comp, which is the capacity to earn wages in a competitive labor market. The comp system also has the variation of suitable employment which holds that a high-earning worker doesn't have to take a low-paying job after their injury.
We think the Court of Appeals has left the door open for the right claim to come along. To succeed I think the award of SSD must be solely on the basis of the same injury as the workers' comp case. Also I think it will be more successful for an injured worker with a high pre-injury average weekly wage. We wouldn't argue necessarily that the injured worker couldn't find any work -- just that work paying so little as to be below the substantially gainful activity threshold would be, by definition, not suitable employment. Finally, it would be ideal if the Administrative Law Judge had used a vocational expert at the Social Security hearing.
No guarantees, but it's a case I'd take to hearing.
Personal Injury
The McDonald's Coffee Burn Lawsuit
This is a Test. Before you read further, I want you to set aside your computer and spend a few minutes thinking about your understanding of the famous McDonald,s Coffee Burn Case. Try to recall the facts and the results of this case. After you have spent a few minutes recalling this case, read the following information about the ACTUAL case.Ensign Amendment Fails --- Good News for Malpractice Victims
Ensign Amendment Fails --- Good News for Malpractice VictimsCity of Charlotte to Settle Wrongful Death Lawsuit for Driver Killed By Falling Tree
City of Charlotte to Settle Wrongful Death Lawsuit for Driver Killed By Falling TreeSeat Belts = Safety
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in Washington DC has documented a steady increase in the use of seat belts across our nation since 1994. As a result, there have been less unrestrained vehicle passenger deaths. Click here to see this research informaiton.
Our book
"10 Ways to Wreck Your
Workers Compensation Claim"
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"10 Things Your Insurance Adjuster Wont Tell You"
"Deny & Buy" - Confessions of Former Insurance Defense Attorneys
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Workers' Compensation
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Personal Injury
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Case Studies
Workers' Compensation
What Can Go Wrong with a Return to Light Duty Work.
How a Functional Capacities Evaluation Can Wreck a Claim.
An Example of a Workers' Comp Adjuster Manipulating the Recorded Statement.