In the world of insurance, it is inevitable that policies will be cancelled. As you can imagine, there is nothing worse than receiving a claim on a policy well after the effective date of cancellation. What should be a simple, clear cut denial of liability can quickly spiral into an expensive defense effort resulting in…
Recent rulings from The North Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals have set Workers’ Compensation Defendants somewhat adrift regarding the burdens of proof relating to disability. With this uncertainty, and to counter the testimony historically provided by Plaintiffs seeking indemnity benefits, Defendants involved in complicated disability disputes should consider early involvement of a vocational…
After practicing law in the field of workers’ compensation for eleven years, I decided to return to school. Not business school; not for an LMS or other decorative degree which would typically boost the resume of a partner within a larger firm. Instead, I enrolled in Johnston Community College’s Truck Driver Training program, in Smithfield,…
An independent contractor is an individual who generally falls outside of the structure of the Workers’ Compensation Act. Whether a person employed to perform specified work for another is to be regarded as an independent contractor or as an employee within meaning of Workers’ Compensation Act is determined by application of ordinary common-law tests. Youngblood…
Following North Carolina’s July 2017 legislative change to the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act, one might have put aside concerns over Wilkes v City of Greenville; resting assured that the slippery slope within NC Workers’ Compensation claims as to compensability of late-reported and or ‘new’ injury conditions remained merely that, a slippery slope, rather than…