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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Who's Paying For Your Gas?

Here's a quick tip which could pay off for you... Did your adjuster tell you that you are entitled to mileage reimbursement for going to see the doctor, for physical therapy, or for job searches? Many of them "forget" to mention that...

As of January 1, 2010 the reimbursement rate is 50¢ per mile. The only catch is that the trip has to be ten miles or more one-way. But that covers an awful lot of trips. If you haven't been asking for this reimbursement, the adjuster has been laughing to herself.

The Industrial Commission actually lowered the reimbursement rate for 2010. Apparently AIG and the other insurance companies didn't feel that the government bailout gave them enough money, so they successfully lobbied to have the rate dropped to the lowest its been in three years. Here's the historical rates:

2009 55¢
July - Dec, 2008 58.5¢
Jan - June, 2008 50.5¢
2007 48.5¢
2006 44.5¢
2005 and earlier 31.5¢

We take care of the mileage reimbursements for our clients, but there’s no reason for you to go without this money if we don’t represent you. (If you've got an attorney and they haven't tipped you off on this... shame on them. DO NOT just make this part of the settlement at the end of the case -- then you'll end up paying part of the reimbursement in attorneys' fees. Collecting these reimbursements are a small part of what attorneys do to earn their fees in the first place.)

You can download the NCIC Form 25T from the library section of our website. There is no deadline for filing, but you can expect some flack from the adjuster if you haven't asked for reimbursements over a four-year period and all of a sudden you flood her with a couple thousand dollars worth of mileage reimbursements.

One last thing -- you can attach plain pages to the Form 25T -- you don't have to turn in multiple forms with only a few visits on each one. If you haven't clocked the mileage in your car, you can do it easily at www.MapQuest.com. Sometimes this doesn't work well if you live in a rural area, but it’s worth trying. By the way, many adjusters double check the mileage requests using MapQuest as well. So you probably won’t succeed in stretching a seven-mile drive into ten miles.