Partners Bill Bulfer and Courtney Britt recently contributed to DRI’s Insurance Policy Rescission Compendium by authoring the North Carolina Chapter. The compendium is a joint project between the DRI Insurance Law Committee and the DRI Life, Health and Disability Committee that took over a year to complete. It “is a comprehensive resource for insurance carriers,…
Discussion of workplace harassment reached a fever pitch last Fall when media reports streamed seemingly endless claims against Hollywood moguls and corporate giants alike. The #MeToo movement has added force to the discussion, no doubt leaving employers feeling exposed. Although harassment allegations are often handled in civil courts, certain allegations can be litigated in workers’…
A recent civil case involving a workers’ compensation claim examines the bounds of third-party beneficiary status in North Carolina. Seguro-Suarez v. Key Risk Insurance Co. began as a workers’ compensation case filed at the North Carolina Industrial Commission. However, the case recently decided by North Carolina’s Court of Appeals is a civil case which was…
Attorneys Courtney Britt and Bill Bulfer wrote the North Carolina Chapter in the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Compendium published by the Defense Research Institute. The compendium surveys insurance law and practices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It focuses on claims handling and timing issues, providing references to applicable…
Every employer has been there before. You hire a new employee and everything is going smoothly, until one day you receive a letter from the North Carolina Department of Revenue compelling you to withhold an amount from your new employee’s paychecks to satisfy an outstanding tax obligation the employee owes. In the boilerplate of that…
The Court of Appeals recently held that Plaintiff’s lay testimony was insufficient to establish increased risk in an occupational disease claim. In Briggs v. Debbie’s Staffing, Inc., Plaintiff worked as a Ceramic Technician, which required him to work a portion of his time on a Voeller machine. The Voeller machine mixes water with various dry…
The Court of Appeals recently released two decisions that analyzed issues relating to disability – specifically, the burden of proving futility – post-Wilkes v. City of Greenville. In Adame v. Aerotek, an unpublished decision, Plaintiff sustained a low back injury in June 2013. After receiving conservative treatment with multiple doctors, Plaintiff was ultimately released with…
Industrial Commission Executive Secretary Meredith Henderson announced this week that beginning Monday, September 18, 2017, the Commission will no longer accept motion filings or motion responses from adjusters or insurance carriers. Documents the Commission will no longer accept from adjusters include Form 24s, and responses to Form 23s, Form 28Us and Form 18Ms, as well…
In addition to creating a medical presumption for accepted claims, the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in Wilkes v. City of Greenville has significantly altered the landscape for proving disability. The Court has held that an employee can prove a disability outside of the four methods outlined in Russell v. Lowes Product Distribution. The Court…
On Friday, June 9, 2017, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued its eagerly anticipated decision in Wilkes v. City of Greenville, in significant part, unanimously affirming the Court of Appeals. Wilkes involves two primary issues. First, whether Johnnie Wilkes failed to meet his burden of establishing that his anxiety and depression were the result of…