Practice Areas

• Workers' Compensation
• Personal Injury
• Social Security Disability

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....
  

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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)

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"Without my attorney's help, I would have been hung out to dry.  He looked out for me!"

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"Everyone on the team was really personable and professional."

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"The quick response and action by Justin Wraight when my case came to a critical point was impressive."

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"Everybody was totally straight forward with me.  I didn't feel like I was just paperwork to them."

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DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.

How a Functional Capacities Evaluation Can Wreck a Claim.

The Case: "Mary" came to us with an accepted claim for a knee injury she suffered while working in a factory. She had had a difficult time with her medical treatment. The insurance company had sent Mary to a doctor who treated most of her employer's workers' comp claimants. It seemed like the doctor gave every benefit of the doubt to the employer and wasn't really listening to Mary at all.

Long before she felt ready, the doctor was talking about Mary returning to her old job. She explained that she still didn't feel up to it. Her job was pretty physical, and there really wasn't anyone to help her with the heavy parts of the job. The rehab nurse jumped in and assured the doctor that the employer promised to give her an assistant. The doctor ate this up and said he was going to order a Functional Capacities Evaluation to show exactly what Mary could and couldn't do.

On the day of the FCE Mary was a basket case. She was worried about getting through a three-hour physical examination, she was worried about being sent back to work and getting fired, and she hadn't slept a wink the night before. The physical therapist asked her where she hurt and Mary honestly replied "all over." Her leg hurt from the injury, she hadn't slept so her back hurt and her nerves were shot. She tried her best during the FCE, especially on the parts involving her injured leg. In order to preserve her energy, she relaxed a little bit on the parts testing the strength in her back, arms and hands.

Mary was horrified when an angry company doctor called her up and accused her of exaggerating her symptoms and not giving full effort during the FCE. He released her to full duty work and discharged her from his care. Mary called us in a panic.

Here's what we did: We obtained a copy of the FCE and copies of the medical records. We were able to show the doctor that Mary's physical examination had consistently matched her verbal complaints – thus, she hadn't been telling stories all along. We asked for a repeat FCE to try to get better results. The doctor agreed, but the insurance company refused because they had Mary right where they wanted her. We went to the Industrial Commission and obtained an order requiring the insurance company to give Mary a new FCE. We then met with her at length and explained the process of the FCE before she took it again.

This time, the results showed that Mary had given full effort and that she had significant restrictions which would prevent her from doing her old job. Fortunately, however, her employer had an opening for a desk job, and Mary jumped at the opportunity