Last year, the State expanded the coverage of the North Carolina Guaranty Association to include structured settlement annuitities for North Carolina residents. This is especially important for people who receive annuities as part of a workers’ compensation or personal injury settlement. Coverage here. One part of the new law’s language was less than clear, which required an amendment. The amendment makes clear that annuity protection runs to the benefit of the actual beneficiary, the “payee” of the policy. The text can be found here. The amendment was enacted during the legislature’s short session this summer and signed by the governor. Hank Patterson and Narendra Ghosh assisted with the legislative effort.
Categories: Legislative Action
Tags: Hank Patterson, Legislation, Narendra Ghosh, NC Legislature, North Carolina, Personal Injuries, Structured Settlements, Workers' Compensation
Hank Patterson spoke at the Iowa Association of Justice’s 19 Annual Workers’ Compensation Seminar last month in Des Moines. His presentation discussed National Legilsation and Policy Priorities for Workers Compensation, and specifically addressed Medicare reform (see HR 2641 — Medicare Secondary Payer and Workers’ Compensation Settlement Agreements Act of 2009), the National Commission on State Workers’ Compensation Laws Act (HR 635), and issues surrounding the AMA Guides on Disability.
Categories: News of the Firm
Tags: AMA Guides, Congress, Hank Patterson, Iowa Association of Justice, Legislation, Medicare, National Commission, Presentation, Workers' Compensation
Six of Patterson Harkavy’s attorneys have been named North Carolina “Super Lawyers” for 2010 in a recent study by Law & Politics magazine. The findings are published in the February 2010 edition of the North Carolina Super Lawyers magazine.
Patterson Harkavy’s 2010 North Carolina “Super Lawyers” are:
In addition, Jonathan Harkavy was named to the list of the Top 100 attorneys in North Carolina.
Law & Politics conducts a regional survey of lawyers who have been in practice for at least five years, asking them to nominate the best attorneys they’ve personally observed in action. In addition, the magazine’s attorney-led research department reviews nominees’ credentials based on a set of evaluation criteria. To ensure a diverse and well-balanced list, the research staff considers factors such as firm size, practice area and geographic location.
Categories: News of the Firm
Tags: Burton Craige, Hank Patterson, Jonathan Harkavy, Labor and Employment, Leto Copeley, Medical Malpractice, Michael Okun, Personal Injuries, Recognition, Super Lawyers, Valerie Johnson, Workers' Compensation
Hank Patterson has been recognized by the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation Law Center as one of its Workers’ Compensation Notable People for 2009:
“These exceptional people have worked tirelessly on behalf of their clients and have made significant contributions this past year to the workers’ compensation system and/or the workplace.”
“The recipients of the 2009 awards were selected by various organizations and experts in the field, including the Workers Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network (NWCDN), the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association (CAAA), the Workers’ Compensation Forum on LinkedIn, and selected members of the Larson’s National Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board.”
Hank’s accomplishments, service, and dedication are well described, as are some of his recent activities, including “trying to enact a revision to the Medicare Secondary Payor Act to solve some of the problems that workers’ compensation practitioners have had with satisfying the requirements of the Act regarding conditional payments and set asides.”
Categories: News of the Firm
Tags: Hank Patterson, Recognition, Workers' Compensation
Hank Patterson is one of the co-chairs for today’s NCAJ 16th Annual CLE on Workplace Torts and Workers’ Compensation. Hank is also speaking and presenting a paper entitled Structured Settlement Annuities and the N.C. Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association.
Summary: From the perspective of the North Carolina Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association, Senate Bill 780, enacted by the 2009 General Assembly did not accomplish its basic purpose of expanding coverage to structured settlement annuity payees. We concur. An additional amendment will be required to assure that annuity payees who are residents of North Carolina have the protection of the Guaranty Association.
Categories: News of the Firm
Tags: Articles, Hank Patterson, NC Legislature, NCAJ, Presentation, Structured Settlements, Workers' Compensation
At the 14th Annual North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference in Raleigh, which is put on the by the Industrial Commission, Hank spoke on a panel about ethics in workers’ compensation cases. He presented a paper entitled Ethical Considerations in the Workers’ Compensation Practice, Selected Topics.
Summary: The present standards for ethical conduct by lawyers in North Carolina are found in the 1997 Revised Rules of Professional Conduct of the North Carolina State Bar. This discussion of ethical standards for workers compensation lawyers is based on these Revised Rules of Professional Conduct and applicable provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act and Rules of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Specific ethical standards also have been adopted for other participants in the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation System.
Categories: News of the Firm
Tags: Articles, Ethics, Hank Patterson, Industrial Commission, Presentation, Workers' Compensation
At the 14th Annual North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference in Raleigh, which is put on the by the Industrial Commission, Hank Patterson was presented with an award in recognition for his years of outstanding service to the workers and the workers’ compensation of system of North Carolina. Mike Okun was called on to present the award to him. Also honored was C. Woodrow Teague of the law firm Teague Campbell Dennis & Gorham.
Hank Speaks after Receiving Recognition
Categories: News of the Firm
Tags: Hank Patterson, Industrial Commission, Michael Okun, Recognition, Workers' Compensation
The North Carolina Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association is a state agency that, as one of its dutites, provides a guarantee for an annuity bought by North Carolina residents. If the company that sells the annuity fails, then the Guaranty Association will take over paying the annuity up to a certain amount ($300,000 per person). This is similar to the role of the FDIC in protecting bank deposits.
Injured people who reach settlements in workers’ compensation and personal injury cases often are provided with annuities (called structured settlement annuitities) to cover future expenses related to their case, such as future medical expenses. Through a wrinkle in the law, many of these structured settlement annuities were not covered by the N.C. Guaranty Association.
Senate Bill 780 fixes this problem by expanded the coverage of the N.C. Guaranty Association to include structured settlement annuitities for North Carolina residents. The Bill has just been passed by the Legislature and is on the way to the governor for her to sign. Hank Patterson and Narendra Ghosh assisted with the legislative effort.
Categories: Legislative Action
Tags: Hank Patterson, Legislation, Narendra Ghosh, NC Legislature, North Carolina, Personal Injuries, Structured Settlements, Workers' Compensation
Valerie Johnson spoke at the NCATL’s 2007 Workplace Torts and Workers Comp CLE, held in Chapel Hill. Hank Patterson was also one of the program’s co-chairs. Valerie’s presentation topic and paper was New Developments in the Interaction Between North Carolina State Employee Benefits and the Workers’ Compensation System.
Summary: Although the interaction between the state employee benefits system and the workers’ compensation system has some points of friction that have been the source of litigation, as a general rule, the two systems fit together fairly neatly. This paper provides a broad overview of the benefits available to state employees from the State and discusses how the receipt of workers’ compensation benefits would affect these benefits. Finally, it discusses how the careful structuring of settlements can mitigate or avoid offsets of workers’ compensation benefits against benefits from the State.
Categories: News of the Firm
Tags: Articles, Hank Patterson, Presentation, State Benefits, Valerie Johnson, Workers' Compensation
