Practice Areas

• Workers' Compensation
• Personal Injury
• Social Security Disability

Firm News

• Workers Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission shows we beat both AIG and Zurich in proving that this truck driver for a brick company had two separate accidents which both injured his knee, ultimately disabling him....
• 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 sanctions against the insurance company for failing to accept a claim when our client, an insulation installer, was in an auto accident....
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission: The Vocational Rehabilitation Professional, from Page Rehabilitation, had a "strained interpretation of suitable employment and the duration of her proposed job search raises serious questions as to whether her objective was to benefit plaintiff or defendants."...
• 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....
• 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....
• North Carolina Industrial Commission: OTP Lawyers stepped in to save an injured plumber whose original lawyer couldn't get the job done against Key Risk....
• North Carolina Industrial Commission: Facing down the Argonaut workers' compensation adjuster in a disputed carpal tunnel case...
• North Carolina Industrial Commission: In this case with Kemper Insurance company the NCIC found that the employer, Cintas, "schemed" to fire plaintiff while she was on light duty....

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Library

Workers' Compensation

• Workers' Comp Tips
• My Employer Says They Don't Have Workers Comp Insurance
• Ten Ways to Wreck Your Workers' Compensation Claim, Online Edition
• What is the Present Value of Money and Why Should I Care?
• Five Ways Doctors Can Hurt Your Case

Personal Injury

• How Uninsured Motorist Insurance protects you in a personal injury claim.

Social Security Disability

• Five Social Security Disability Tips
• What on Earth is a Workers' Compensation Offset?
• What People Applying For Disability Need To Know

General

• The Ten Worst Insurance Companies

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Testimonials

"From the initial interview until the check came I was treated like family. I have and will continue to recommend you to friends and family."

"I was impressed with your firm from the beginning... Although I'm sure you are totally busy with cases I always felt as though mine were the only one you were handling. All my calls were promptly returned and I really appreciate that."

"You were right up front about what the workers' compensation adjuster would try to do. I did not know anything about workers' compensation laws. I think your firm did an amazing job for me and my family."

"You were abale to spot the problems immediately and fix them."

"There's no way I could have gotten the same results without your help."

"Your office a very, very profesional office. You have always treated me with great respect, honesty, and integrity."

"You absolutely are the experts in Workers' Compensation law. You never made me feel foolish."

"You know every aspect of workers' comp and used that to my benefit."

"You were very knowledgeable and treated me with utmost respect."

"I never had another worry after hiring you."

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Eight Steps to Better Treatment with Your Workers' Comp Doctor

1. Be prepared for the doctor's visit. How? We recommend everyone
use one of the notepads from our Survival Kit (if you haven't gotten
one email us and we'll send you one for free). In any event you
should have written down notes for the doctor before you ever go in.
Be sure to tell him how your condition has changed since the last
visit, how your activity levels have changed, and how medication is
helping or not. Have written down any questions you want to ask the
doctor so you can remember them. Being prepared makes the best use
of the doctor's time and he'll have to appreciate that.

2. Be as accurate as possible. Remember that most worker's comp
doctor's have a certain prejudice against injured workers. You
need to do everything possible to avoid falling into these stereo-
types. It's tempting to complain a little louder when the doctor
seems to be ignoring you. Unfortunately this often results in his
assuming you're symptom magnifying, and he'll pay even less
attention to you.

3. Make sure the doctor is directing your care, not the rehab
nurse. Under the NCIC Rehabilitation Rules the nurses cannot pro-
pose a specific doctor for a second opinion or for treatment. Yet
this happens constantly. If your doctor recommends that you see
someone else ask him to specifically put in his notes where he is
referring you. Otherwise you can pretty much guarantee that between
the nurse and the adjuster you'll end up with an insurance-oriented
doctor.

4. Do not work outside of your light duty restrictions. Don't do it
at home either. Most doctors erroneously believe that employers
really honor light duty restrictions. If you work beyond your re-
strictions your recovery will be slower than you want or the doctor
expects. So get the most out of the treatment by only pushing your
body as far as the doctor thinks your able.

5. Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion. If the adjuster
tells you that you're only entitled to a second opinion at the end
of your claim, and then only on the amount of your rating, she's
lying to you. You're entitled to ask for a second opinion any time
you want. No credible doctor is offended if you ask for a second
opinion.

6. When you ask for a second opinion don't let the adjuster or the
rehab nurse pick the next doctor for you. The Industrial Commission
won't give you an endless supply of second opinions, and "wasting"
one by going to yet another company doctor won't help you any.

7. Ask the doctor's office to send you copies of your office notes.
These are being sent to the adjuster as soon as they're typed up so
you should have them to. You need to see exactly what your doctor
is saying about you.

8. Get copies of your rehab nurse's reports. And also get all of
her correspondence (whether by fax or email) between her and the
adjuster, the defense attorney, and the doctors. Again, you need
to know exactly what is being said about your case.