Valerie Johnson is speaking at tomorrow’s NCAJ 2009 Workplace Torts and Workers’ Compensation CLE, to be held in Chapel Hill. Valerie’s presentation topic and paper are entitled State Employee Benefits and Workers’ Comp: 2009 Update. One of the significant changes to be discussed is that Corvel Corporation is now the administrator of workers’ comp benefits on behalf of the State, taking the place of Key Risk earlier this year.
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, Corvel, NCAJ, North Carolina, Presentation, State Benefits, State Employees, Valerie Johnson, Workers' Compensation
The Senate on Monday voted 72-to-16 to confirm Judge Andre M. Davis to a seat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Davis has been a judge since 1987, and a federal trial judge since 1995. He was first nominated to the Fourth Circuit by President Clinton in 2000, wasn’t confirmed then, and was renominated by President Obama in April.
Judge Davis fills the first of what had been five vacancies on the Fourth Circuit. Two judges from North Carolina, Judge Jim Wynn of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and Judge Albert Diaz on the North Carolina Business Court, were nominated to the Fourth Circuit last week. Their nominations are pending.
Categories: General News
Tags: Fourth Circuit, North Carolina, President Obama, Senate
The Senate finally passed the extension for unemployment insurance last week, and it was promptly signed by President Obama on Friday. The extension was originally passed by the House in September, but it had been held up in the Senate by Republicans. The extension will provide 20 additional weeks of benefits for unemployed workers in North Carolina. Some basic details are here, but more concrete information should posted on the ESC’s site shortly.
Categories: Legislative Action
Tags: Congress, Employment Security Commission, Labor and Employment, North Carolina, President, Unemployment Benefits
Despite employers’ continual complaints that workers’ compensation costs too much, North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has approved a nearly 10 percent decrease in workers’ compensation insurance policy rates. This demonstrates that a good workers’ compensation system, such as North Carolina’s, can both fairly compensate injured workers and be affordable for companies.
Categories: General News
Tags: Insurance Rates, North Carolina, Workers' Compensation
The Statute of Repose Bill was signed by Governor Perdue on August 5, and becomes effective on October 1, 2009. The text of the bill can be found here.
The Guaranty Fund Bill was signed by Governor Perdue on August 7, and becomes effective immediately. The text of the bill can be found here.
Categories: Legislative Action
Tags: Legislation, North Carolina, Personal Injuries, Products Liability, Structured Settlements, Workers' Compensation
Cannizzaro v. Food Lion: The court affirmed the decision of the Industrial Commission, which found that the plaintiff’s accident caused his psychiatric conditions. The court concluded that, although not a physician, a psychologist specializing in neurological and cognitive psychology with significant experience with traumatic brain injuries was qualified to provide expert testimony.
D’Aquisto v. Mission St. Joseph’s Health Sys.: The Commission can award plaintiff attorneys’ fees under N.C.G.S. 97-88 for the costs of appeals even if it cannot award fees under N.C.G.S. 97-88.1 (fees for an unreasonable defense). Also, fees could be awarded by the Commission after all other issues had been decided.
Moore v. Sulbark Builders: Generally, under N.C.G.S. 97-12, an employee cannot receive workers’ compensation if their accident was due to intoxication or being under the influence of a controlled substance. The court affirmed the decision of the Commission, which found that the plaintiff was not under the influence and that the plaintiff was disabled. A simple drug screen that was positive for an unknown amount of marijuana was insufficient evidence of intoxication given the testimony of the experts.
Categories: Judicial Decisions
Tags: Case Commentary, Industrial Commission, NC Court of Appeals, North Carolina, Workers' Compensation
Leto Copeley has been accepted as a member of the Women’s Forum of North Carolina, an invitational, non-partisan organization of women who have demonstrated leadership in the professional, business, government or civic sectors, who are committed to full equality for women in every sphere of life Founded in 1976, the Women’s Forum works to improve public policy and the public policy process in North Carolina.
Categories: News of the Firm
Tags: Equality for Women, Leto Copeley, News of the Firm, North Carolina, Recognition
House Bill 1090, which allows workers receiving severance pay to also receive benefits, was signed by the governor on July 27, 2009. This act becomes effective October 1, 2009, and expires July 1, 2011. Further regulatory guidance from the ESC may be forthcoming. The text of the bill can be found here.
Categories: Legislative Action
Tags: Labor and Employment, Legislation, North Carolina, Severance Agreements, Unemployment Benefits
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
Two important unemployment bills have passed.
The first allows NC to receive over a quarter billion in needed funds from the federal government to pay benefits and help the ESC with its administrative costs, and also liberalizes eligibility for benefits for those who work part time, for those who leave work to accompany a spouse who relocates, and for those who leave work due to illness or illnesses in their immediate families.
The second bill changed the current law that required an unemployed worker to exhaust his or her severance before being eligible for benefits (unless involved in ESC approved retraining). Now unemployed workers may start drawing immediately (after their waiting week) without regard to severance payments. The bill becomes effective Oct. 1 and sunsets in July of 2011. Because an unemployed worker must still exhaust “separation pay,” some work will be required inside the agency to distinguish the two.
Mike Okun assisted in the legislative effort.
Categories: Legislative Action
Tags: Labor and Employment, Mike Okun, NC Legislature, North Carolina, Unemployment Benefits
