Practice Areas

• Workers' Compensation
• Personal Injury
• Social Security Disability
• Employment Law

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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Testimonials

"Mr. Richardson and Ms. York were always available - and they did a terrific job."

"Chip Permar and his team were outstanding!"

"You showed so much concern for me as a person -- there is such a personal touch to everything you do."

"I don't know what I would have done without you!"

"We were nervous at first, but you put us at ease."

"John and Stephanie were patient with me. Great teamwork!"

"Being injured turned into a life-changing event, but it was comforting to know that you understood me and were only a phone call away."

"You guys are on top of your game."

"I researched law firms on the internet, and I could not have asked for a better attorney."

"Whenever I called I got answers."

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What questions should I ask a workers' compensation attorney in North Carolina?

A: 1. Are you any good?

2. Are your fees fair?

Taking these out of order, fees should never be no more than 25% for a workers' compensation case. No attorney should ever charge a fee on weekly benefits just because he or she is handling the case. If they go to a hearing to get you benefits, or to preserve your benefits, that's fine. But this idea that an attorney should automatically get 10-15% just for being there is a lot of baloney. If you come to the attorney late in a claim and just need help settling the case, the attorney ought to be willing to cut the fees or set certain thresholds that he won't take a full fee if you don't get a certain amount of money.

Are you any good? That may sound like a really offensive question -- but it's not. Listen, you get one crack at your workers' compensation case. If it's a serious injury that is going to leave you with a permanent disability or affect your career you don't want some beginner who is learning the ropes on your case. Let someone else be their training wheels.

How do you know if the attorney is any good?  Here are three ways:

1.    Martindale Hubbell, at www.martindale.com, is the oldest and most independent evaluator of attorneys. They interview other attorneys, judges, etc., and compilate these comments into an evaluation of an attorney's skills and ethics. We don't get to pick who reviews us nor do we ever know who did. It's my understanding that MH tries to get 10-12 evaluations before they assign a rating. The lowest rating is CV, then BV, then AV. Not all lawyers are rated -- you have to ask to have it done. You're always better off with a higher rated attorney assuming that they do a lot of workers' comp. Todd Oxner and Tom Clare are both AV rated because of their workers' comp skills but you would be insane to hire either of them to do a bankruptcy or a tax case.

2. http://www.nclawspecialists.gov/results.asp?SpecialtyID=1111 is the link to the North Carolina State Bar's list of legal specialists. In order to get Board Certified you have to have several years of experience, submit a number of your cases for review, undergo another anonymous review session, and sit for a pretty tough examination. If you search by city the site only lists one address per attorney. Thus Todd Oxner is listed only in Greensboro (where his official N.C.State Bar address is) but not in Winston-Salem or Charlotte. The reverse is true of Devin Thomas. Amy Berry shows up in Burlington but not in Asheboro. Obviously hiring a specialist is generally better than hiring someone who isn't.

3. The only downside to the State Bar specialization scheme is that there is not a minimum number of hearings that an attorney must have completed to sit for the exam. This was argued about when they were creating the program back in 2000 but ultimately didn't make the cut. I think it is critical that an attorney has a good number of hearings taken all the way to a final decision (called an opinion and award) under his/her belt or at least be working with an experienced attorney.

http://www.comp.state.nc.us/livelink/livelink.exe?nc=ll&objType=258&objAction=searchprompt is the link to the Industrial Commission's search area. If you get a username/password page the username is "public" and there is no password. Enter the attorney's name in quotations, e.g. "Todd P. Oxner" hit "enterprise" and then search. You may want to check w/ and w/o initials. For instance Todd has 70 published decisions (Opinion and Awards) under "Todd P." and another 15 under "Todd." Tom Clare (Thomas M. Clare, if you're checking) is the firm's king of hearings with over 200 published decisions. It's unbelievable but many attorneys who advertise heavily for workers' comp, call themselves "aggressive" or "heavyweights" or "respected" have just a couple of hearings under their belts.