In recent years, attendant care provided under North Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Act has gotten quite a bit of attention in the appellate courts and at the General Assembly. In particular, the Court of Appeals’ 2011 decision in Shackleton v. Southern Flooring & Acoustical Company presented a challenge for employers. Reversing the Commission’s denial of an attendant…
On May 12, 2007, Plaintiff was working as a tire builder for Defendant-Employer, and sustained injury to her right shoulder. Defendants accepted the right shoulder as compensable. Plaintiff underwent surgery and returned to work. Plaintiff sustained a number of exacerbations to the right shoulder over the course of her claim. Following one incident in 2010,…
A federal court in West Virginia has reviewed what constitutes a substitute auto in the context of a commercial auto policy. The owner of JRH Trucking, Ltd., James Herrington, contacted a mechanic to service one of the company’s coal trucks. The mechanic drove a flatbed truck to JRH’s facility, but was unable to complete the…
If employers or carriers have a statute of limitation defense, this defense should be identified early and analyzed as a potential basis for denying the claim.
Employers and carriers should be careful to discuss with their attorneys what documents are in existence and whether these documents are discoverable.
A federal court in North Carolina recently ruled that homeowner-defendants in a declaratory judgment action sufficiently pled a counterclaim for bad faith against their insurer. The homeowners filed a claim with their insurer after their residence suffered water damage while they were out of the country. The insurer denied the claim after it determined that…
The decision in Whicker provides a reminder of what the Court will look at when determining whether there is joint or lent employment between two employers.
Last week was the one-year anniversary of Harleysville Mut. Ins. Co. v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., 2015 WL 859586 (E.D.N.C. Feb. 27, 2015), in which the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina required five insurers to equally contribute to the defense of a mutual insured in connection with three underlying…
Last week, automakers and the US government reached an agreement on ways to improve safety, including warding off cyber-attacks in the ever-increasing number of Internet-connected vehicles and supporting the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles. This collaborative approach by regulators and industry leaders highlights the overlap between automobile liability, cyber security, and autonomous vehicles.
If an employer or carrier becomes aware that a medical provider has recommended attendant care services, they should address the issue without delay…