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....
  

view all

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)

view all

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."

more

Psssst! Who's that following you?

Psssst…..! Who’s that following you?

If you’ve got Stonewood Insurance on your case, you can pretty much guarantee it’s a private investigator. Most insurance companies will use private investigators from time to time. But Stonewood uses them more than any other insurance company we’ve ever seen.

“But I’ve got nothing to hide” you say… That’s not always the issue. Here are a few tips to keep in mind about private investigators:

· They can legally film you, but are not supposed to go onto private property. They sometimes do anyway. If they can see into your house from the street or sidewalk, they will – particularly at night when you have the lights on.

· If you have an attorney, they cannot ethically talk to you. I’ve seen cases where they did telephone injured workers. More than one person has come to me feeling threatened by a private investigator.

· A picture may be worth a thousand words. But a video can really tell as story. And an edited video can tell an outright lie. Many times an insurance company will reduce hours and hours worth of surveillance video into about ten minutes of physical activity. They don’t bother telling the doctor the film was taken over a period of days or even weeks.

· The investigator’s report or video cannot be sent to a doctor without your consent. That’s the law. But many insurance companies and their attorneys routinely break that law. Unfortunately many people at the Industrial Commission let them get away with it. So the adjusters – and again, Stonewood is the worst here – keep trying to get away with it.

· The investigator’s report may be a big fat lie. I recently saw a report where the private eye had interviewed my client’s neighbors. The report claimed my client’s parents were on Social Security Disability and his sister also had a worker’s comp claim. The suggestion was that my client was a faker playing the system. The only problem was that my guy didn’t have a sister, his mother was dead, and his father was still working. But the insurance adjuster still wanted to send this report to the doctor hoping that he would return my client to work rather than believing his back was really injured.

· The investigator may be teaming up with your rehab nurse. It is very common for an investigator to film you coming or going from a doctor’s visit, or watching you later that same day. How do they know what day you’re going to the doctor? The rehab nurse tells them. The insurance company is looking for any tiny difference between what you told the doctor you could do and how the private investigator would describe your actions. So you may tell the doctor it hurts when you walk. But the PI will watch you walking to your car and write in his report “the claimant appeared to be pain-free and walked with a natural gait.”

· The investigation is usually several hours long on different days. It’s pretty common for a PI to be across the street before dawn. They’re trying to see if you’re going to some other job or how you’re spending your days.

· The PI knows a lot about you. The adjuster has given him your date of birth, social security number and address. With that he has found where you used to live, possibly talked to your ex-wife, and knows if you rent, own, or have filed bankruptcy. He knows your criminal history.

· The PI has absolutely no interest in being fair or honest. He simply wants to dig up as much damaging information on you as possible. If the adjuster can successfully use that to cut down on your case, she’ll hire him again and again. Mission accomplished.

· The goal is to influence your doctor against you. Keep in mind that your adjuster has hand-picked your doctor already – often because he has a prejudice against injured workers or thinks you are all fakers. So it may not take a lot to turn him against you. In fact, one of Greensboro’s most-used orthopedic surgeons (now retired, thank heavens) would sometimes tell the rehab nurse to privately tell the adjuster to hire a private investigator when he had doubts about a patient.

· Again, this is why you’ve got to stay on top of your adjuster and make sure she isn’t bending the rules in how she uses private investigators.

What can you do to protect yourself? Here are a few tips:

· Avoid any temptation to get the doctor to pay attention to you by exaggerating how bad you hurt. It’s the difference between what you tell the doctor and what he sees in film that can hurt you.

· Know that you are being followed. So don’t be doing things in public that you wouldn’t want your doctor to know about.

· It’s ok to mow your lawn, walk your dog, and go to the grocery store. Just tell your doctor you are doing all that and let him know if it hurts and what you do about it.

· You, or your attorney if you have one, absolutely must be persistent in checking to see if the adjuster is using a private investigator.

· If you realize you’re being followed, don’t make a scene or try to escape. Remember: you’ve got the insurance company’s attention. So if you normally limp, go ahead and limp. If you grab your back when you get out of your car keep doing that. If you stop to take breaks every five minutes while doing yard work, keep doing that. And for heaven’s sake, don’t carry all six grocery bags into the house in a single trip! Yeah, you’re exposed to the camera for longer but there is no harm in carrying in the bags a couple at a time.

· Finally, remember: there’s nothing you can do to prevent the insurance company from using a private investigator. The important thing is that you are cautious and that you don’t let the adjuster get away with misusing the PI’s report.