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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"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."

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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.

The Workers' Comp Adjuster Denied a Perfectly Legitimate Claim.

The Case: This client, "John," came to us when the insurance company denied his back claim. Late on a Friday afternoon John slipped and fell on a wet part of the cement loading dock where he worked. He injured his back and cracked his elbow pretty good when he landed on it. He got up, brushed himself off and looked around. Although shaken up, he didn't think there was anything seriously wrong.

He stopped by his supervisor's office, but the boss had left early for a holiday weekend. Figuring that he had a three-day weekend, John decided to take it easy, and if he didn't feel well, he'd report the claim on Tuesday. That night, John wasn't feeling great, and by Monday, he was in pain barely able to get out of bed.

First thing Tuesday morning, John was in his supervisor's office. He explained exactly what happened, and his boss wrote it all down. John was told to go to the local walk-in medical clinic to get checked out. To his horror, John received a letter just a couple of days later from the insurance company. They were denying his claim "on credibility grounds" and basically accused him of injuring his back at home on the weekend and trying to pass it off as a workers' compensation injury.

Here's what we did: We explained to John the insurance tactic of "deny and buy." This is when an insurance company deliberately denies a legitimate claim intending to settle the case cheap when the injured worker starts going broke. We confirmed that John had indeed told the doctor at the clinic that he was hurt on the job. We obtained some short statements from friends who saw him over the weekend and to whom John had described an accident. We noted in John's employment file there was no mention of his being anything but a perfect employee.

At the mediation prior to the hearing at the Industrial Commission, John settled for most of what he was owed for the case. The insurance company still saved money by using this unethical tactic; however, we were able to limit that by a great deal. Because he was able to return to work fairly quickly, John wanted to put this behind him rather than waiting the year or more the Industrial Commission would have taken for a decision.