David DePaolo Today's post comes from guest author Rod Rehm, from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.David DePaolo, founder of WorkCompCentral, recently passed away. He was one of the most authentic individuals in the workers'’ compensation industry, who often advocated for the injured worker in his blog posts. Mr. DePaolo was an intellect, visionary and bridge [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Rod Rehm, from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.Workers’ compensation laws are under constant attack by “reformers” from industry, insurance and self-insureds. NCCI is the National Council on Compensation Insurance, a group that participates in many aspects of workers'’ compensation, including setting premiums. The NCCI recently released presentations regarding big issues [...]
What is your sense of smell and sense of taste worth to you? These senses are truly priceless. In a medical malpractice case, the plaintiff – a chef – was awarded $1.5 million in damages when he lost his sense of taste following a tonsillectomy when the surgeon failed to disclose that this was a [...]
In Raleigh, North Carolina, we see a lot of crickets, wasps, bees, lightning bugs, and an occasional cicada. What we don’t have – thank goodness – are scorpions. Those belong far, far away – preferably in other countries or in the Southwest. However, just a few weeks ago, an employee at a grocery store in [...]
In North Carolina, if an employer willfully fails to comply with any statutory requirement or an order of the Industrial Commission, an employee’s injury compensation is increased ten percent. If however an employee is injured because he willfully violated a safety rule set by the employer, then his injury compensation will be reduced if (1) [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Charlie Domer, from The Domer Law Firm. For all those concerned about worker’s compensation in our country—which really is all citizens—take a look at this important report on the current status of worker’s compensation systems. The report, from the Worker’s Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG) highlights the scary [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Todd Bennett, from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.Medical records are necessary to substantiate an injured worker’s claim. At a minimum, injured workers' and attorneys need the records from doctors and hospitals to show the diagnoses the workers' have and the treatment that they have received. This includes records from physical [...]
Today's post comes from guest author Thomas Domer, from The Domer Law Firm.I just returned from New Orleans where I made a presentation to about 150 workers'’ compensation lawyers (both for workers' and for employers) on “Case and Client Evaluation In Workers’ Compensation”. Since many in the audience represented insurance companies and employers, I paid [...]
Several months ago, the North Carolina Industrial Commission published their Annual Report for 2014 - 2015. Based on the Annual Report, employer fraud was by far the overwhelming majority of investigated fraud in the North Carolina workers'’ compensation system. The Annual Report tracked investigations of suspected fraud and violations related to workers'’ compensation involving employees, [...]
Recent years have not been favorable to injured workers'. States across the nation have enacted “reform” measures curbing injured workers' benefits. Disability caps have been introduced, medical care restricted. In our last blog, we discussed Oklahoma’s Opt Out provisions as an example of the court system declaring that the legislature had legislated away too much [...]