On Friday, August 20, 2010, a Cleveland County jury returned a unanimous verdict for our client, Danny Rhodes.  Danny was injured at work in 1992 while working for a long haul trucker for Hersek Express Incorporated.  Since Hersek had no workers’ compensation insurance, Danny had to get a judgment from a Superior Court judge.  When he tried to collect the judgment in 2002, he learned that Hersek had become a new company – Diamond H Incorporated – and that Diamond H now owned all of the assets.  Danny’s former attorney filed a complaint against the companies and their individual owners alleging claims of fraudulent transfer, civil conspiracy and piercing the corporate veil.

We became involved in the case in 2008.   We obtained documents from the Department of Motor Vehicles, the companies’ bank and their accountant to show how the companies and its owners moved money and assets around.  The jury found that Hersek fraudulently transferred five trucks to the new company; they also found that Diamond H and the owners of the two companies controlled Hersek to the extent that it had no separate corporate identity.  Danny is now entitled to collect his judgment from Diamond H and the individual owners as well as from Hersek.  Danny was represented by Ann Groninger and Paige Kurtz of Sprouse & Kurtz, PLLC.

Categories: Results Tags: Ann Groninger, Cleveland County, Enforcing Judgment, Fraudulent Transfer, Litigation, Piercing Corporate Veil, Results, Trial, Workers' Compensation

Leto Copeley is presenting today at the ABA’s Third Annual CLE Conference for the Labor and Employment Section in Washington, DC.  She is part of a group of litigators presenting opening statements and testimony through the use of a Summary Trial before a mock jury.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: ABA, Labor and Employment, Leto Copeley, Litigation, Presentation

Ann Groninger, along with Paige Kurtz, has written a paper on piercing the corporate veil, an important topic when bringing lawsuits against businesses.  The paper is entitled Behind the Shield: Piercing the Corporate Veil.

Summary: So you finally have a great case against Big Corporation. You file your complaint and send in discovery requests. Somehow you learn that Big Corporation may not actually have the resources you thought it would – either employees are hearing rumors about shutting down or layoffs, or you receive balance sheets in discovery showing a bleak bottom line. Is it still worth pursuing the case? That remains to be seen, but there may be other places to look for money.

Although the corporate structure normally protects individual owners or related entities from liability, courts will look beyond the corporation if the corporation appears to be a farce.  In the right circumstances, the court will disregard the corporate entity or “pierce the corporate veil.”

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Ann Groninger, Articles, Case Commentary, Labor and Employment, Litigation, Personal Injuries

At the North Carolina Advocates for Justice CLE, Workers’ Compensation: Maximizing Your Case, Valerie spoke on the topic of representing state employees.  She presented a paper entitled How to Manage a State Employee’s Workers’ Compensation Case.

Summary: North Carolina state employees have benefits available to them when they are entitled to workers’ compensation that must be properly evaluated in order to provide the most complete remedy. While the major components of state employee benefits and the interaction with workers’ compensation have been exhaustively documented in a paper appended to this document, the attorney’s management of the programs and benefits are complex. This paper explores some specific items to analyze and consider in the management of a state employee’s workers’ compensation case and should be read in conjunction with the larger paper.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Articles, Litigation, NCAJ, Presentation, State Employees, Valerie Johnson, Workers' Compensation

Ann Groninger spoke at the Torts Made Perfect seminar in Las Vegas on March 20, 2009, on the subject of representing bicyclists in personal injury cases.  She presented a paper entitled Litigating Bicycle Crash Cases.

Summary: There are many different nuances for an attorney to explore and understand in order to successfully represent an injured cyclist. First, it is most helpful for the attorney herself to have some personal knowledge of cycling. The best way to get that knowledge and to really understand the cyclist point of view is for the attorney herself to be a cyclist. This may not be possible for everyone so the attorney should at least make an effort to delve into and gain an understanding of cyclists and the cycling culture. And when I say “cycling culture,” I do not intend to limit our scope to spandex wearing recreational cyclists, but to anyone who rides a bicycle for fun, work or just to get from point A to B. Second, the attorney must understand the laws and principles that apply to cyclists – state statutes and case law as well as local ordinances – and the exceptions to those laws and principles. Finally, the attorney should understand damages components unique to injured cyclists.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: Ann Groninger, Articles, Bicycle Accidents, Car Accident, Litigation, Personal Injuries, Presentation