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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An Eleventh Way to Wreck a Workers' Comp Claim

A lot of clients come to us concerned about private investigators. In workers comp cases these guys usually aren’t too subtle. Often they park directly across the street from your house in an SUV with darkened windows. Then when you leave to go to Biscuitville they fire up and follow you in an attempt to prove that you couldn’t possibly be injured if you’re capable of driving to a fast food restaurant. OK, that might be a little sarcastic. But generally private investigators are more of a nuisance than a hazard. Our three rules:

1. Don’t get caught doing something you specifically told a doctor you cannot do. The doctor will think you’re a liar and won’t believe what you tell him.

2. Don’t get caught doing something clearly outside of your restrictions. If you can do it for eight hours at home you could probably do it for eight hours at work.

3. Don’t get caught working a different job, get caught taking your paycheck to a bank, and then get caught going to a bar to spend your paycheck. We don’t really have to explain why this is a bad idea.

But I have discovered a fourth instance which I have never warned a single client about. This error is so catastrophic that it really could be the Eleventh Way to Wreck a Workers Comp Claim. Don’t get caught dressed in drag competing in a spoon race. Here’s the whole story:

A jailer in Naugatuck, Connecticut, Garrett A. Dalton, brought a workers comp claim for a back injury. While out of work and drawing disability checks his local radio station ran a contest to win tickets to a Hannah Montana concert. This particular contest required (male) contestants to put on dresses and high heels and then do a 40-yard dash while carrying a spoon with an egg balanced on it.

As you might imagine this was an amusing scene and a local television station covered the event. Sadly for Officer Dalton, he did not win the race or the Hannah Montana tickets. Worse yet, a co-worker saw the TV broadcast, recognized Dalton, and alerted their employer. Next thing you know, Dalton was criminally charged with workers compensation fraud.