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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How Much Will I Pay for A Workers' Compensation Attorney

While many believe it to be unseemly to talk about money, fees and the like we think it is a necessary step toward rebuilding trust between lawyers and the public. It’s unfair to only discuss these fees at the conclusion of some “free consultation.” In our offices we are proud of the work we do as attorneys and have long believed that the value we bring to our clients’ cases far exceeds the fees we charge. However we are perplexed, and sometimes outright upset, at what a number of lawyers out there are doing with fees.

Virtually all plaintiff’s attorneys (injured workers are the plaintiffs, the employer and insurance companies are the defendants) charge a “contingency fee.” That means that unless a certain event happens the client does not owe a fee. The event in question is getting money from the defendants. When lawyers put in their ads “No fee unless there is a recovery” this is what they mean. Why do we do it this way? Realistically there is probably no way that you can afford to pay an attorney while you are out of work. Even if your claim is accepted and you’re receiving two-thirds of your average weekly wage you probably are really feeling a financial pinch. So we defer any payment in the case until the very end.

Under our law an attorney must seek permission from the North Carolina Industrial Commission before collecting a fee. An attorney may ask for any amount that the client has agreed to but in 99.99% of the time the Industrial Commission is going to approve a fee of 25% of the benefits recovered by the plaintiff. Warning bells should sound if an attorney asks you to sign a workers compensation fee agreement for anything more than 25%.

Now that we’ve told you what the percentage is going to be the next, and more important, question is: 25% of what? That is where it really varies. Many attorneys will begin taking 25% of your weekly benefits as soon as they begin representing you. Their contention is that they are providing a service to you at that moment and they should be paid for it. Some will perform a simple, but legally significant task such as forcing the defendants to formally accept the claim, and then start taking 25% of the ongoing benefits.

In our offices we consider this to be inappropriate. That is hardly what we think of by “contingency fee” and we strongly disagree with lawyers who do this. We believe that it is appropriate to only take a fee on new money we get for you. For instance, let’s say you have been getting paid $300.00 per week for the last ten weeks. We force the insurance company to recalculate what you’re supposed to receive and are able to increase your weekly checks to $360.00. You would be paid $600.00 in back pay and then $360.00 weekly thereafter. We would ask the Industrial Commission to award a fee of $150.00 (25% of the back pay) but would not take a fee on the ongoing increased checks of $360.00. The exception to this is a fairly rare event involving Social Security Disability. As described in What on Earth is a Workers Compensation Offset? there is a situation where the Social Security Administration will increase your monthly disability checks if, and only if, we take a fee.

All attorneys we know will take a fee if they have to go to a hearing to keep your checks coming to you or to get checks started in the first place. Our rationale for this is that the only reason you are getting checks at that point is because of our representation and defending your interests before the Industrial Commission. Note, however, that many attorneys will ask you to sign a fee agreement giving them 33% if they take the case to a hearing. We believe this to be particularly offensive, and here’s why. A hearing is a ton of work for the attorney and his staff. Many lawyers avoid going to hearings like they avoid having root canals. They’ll do almost anything to get out of them. But generally the only way to not go to hearing is to settle the case. Well, what happens if our client doesn’t want to settle the case? Some lawyers have come up with the idea of putting additional financial pressure on their clients to settle by saying the fee will go up if the case goes to hearing.

How does this work? Say the defendants offer a $60,000.00 settlement. The client would get $45,000.00 and the attorney would get $15,000.00. If the lawyer raises his fee to one-third then the client would only get $40,000.00, or two-thirds of the settlement. So the lawyer pressures the client saying “you better settle before hearing or you’ll end up getting less money, even if I win your case.”

We think this is completely unfair because the lawyer knows full well the Industrial Commission isn’t going to award a 33% fee just for going to a hearing. When a lawyer pressures a client to settle by using this tactic they are being manipulative and improper. Quite frankly, that is part of what gives lawyers a bad reputation.

Some lawyers will try to take a fee on reimbursements they get for you, such as the mileage the insurance company pays on your trips to the doctor. We see getting you this money as part of our job which results in our deserving the fee at the end of the case. Some lawyers will also try to disguise a fee by calling it an “expense.” Why should a law office charge you 15¢ per copy when you could get the same copy at Kinko’s for half that? Some offices even charge for their letterhead and envelopes when they send you mail. We do not believe in nickel-and-diming you with “expenses” which are really designed to bring money into the firm. Don’t get us wrong; if we spend money to obtain medical records, or on depositions or expert witnesses we will ask to be repaid at the end of the claim. In fact we are required to do so by the North Carolina State Bar. We cannot loan clients money, but we can front expenses as long as we ask to be repaid at the close of the case.