All Topics

• New Postage Rates May Lead to Significant Increases in Law Firms' Postage Expenses

  Sheila Chavis | May 15, 2007 3:51 PM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  Effective, Monday, May 14, 2007, new postal rates went into effect. The standard price for a postage stamp went from thirty nine cents ($.39) plus twenty four cents ($.24) for each additional ounce, to the new rate of forty one cents ($.41) plus seventeen cents ($.17) for each additional ounce. Effectively, people mailing standard one once mail will see an increase of three cents ($.03). ...

• Medical Malpractice Insurer Rates to be Investigated

  Sheila Chavis | May 11, 2007 9:52 AM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers has filed a complaint with the North Carolina Department of Insurance, requesting that the Insurance Commissioner investigate rates being charged by Medical Mutual Insurance of North Carolina. It is a violation of state law to charge "excessive rates" for insurance. Insurance companies like Medical Mutual have, for years, been claiming that expensive...

• How to make funds from a Car Accident Last a Lifetime

  Christina Medlin | May 04, 2007 9:17 AM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  Although there are many options available to individuals that recover substantial judgments from a car accident or other personal injury action, structured settlements have become increasingly popular over the last decade. A structured settlement refers to a settlement that includes 1) a payment of an immediate lump sum, 2) includes a specific set of payment over time, fixed in time and duration...

• Duke Report Draws Connection Between Obesity and Propensity for Workers' Comp Claims

  Sheila Chavis | April 29, 2007 11:07 AM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  In a recent research study, two Duke professors examined the claims and records of nearly 12,000 Duke employees from 1997 to 2004. The researchers concluded that extremely obese employees filed two times as many workers' compensation claim as non-obese employees. The study also found that the extremely obese workers had seven times higher medical costs and stayed out of work 13 times longer...

• North Carolina's Favorable Insurance Rates in Danger of Increasing

  Sheila Chavis | April 18, 2007 1:14 PM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  The North Carolina Legislature is currently considering a bill that was recently introduced by Senator Tony Rand. This bill, SB 901 (and House Bill 1430) has created significant controversey and discussion around the State, as the bills are projected to have a negative impact on drivers who are involved in car accidents and workers who suffer work-related injuries . The state's major...

• Supervisor Picks Worker Up By the Throat and Throws Him to the Concrete Floor

  Brent Adams | April 11, 2007 11:05 AM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  The tire changer told this supervisor that his own supervisor had instructed him not to perform such work. When the tire changer refused to comply with the request to work on ambulance tires this supervisor, Mr. King, threatened him. As the tire changer started to walk away, King grabbed him by the throat, picked him up in the air, and threw him down to the concrete floor where he landed flat...

• Court of Appeals Upholds Injured Employee's Award

  Robin Martinek | April 11, 2007 9:20 AM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  In a recent decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld an injured workers' award of total disability despite protests by his employer that he had a previous disabling injury. Mr. Raymond M. Ard was employed by Owens-Illinois as a stock handler and was consistently required to move forty-pound boxes as part of his job duties. On May 11, 2001, Mr. Ard sought treatment for back pain...

• Man Kiilled In Motorcycle-Car Accident

  Brent Adams | April 05, 2007 11:39 AM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  A Raleigh man died early Tuesday in a motorcycle accident when his bike collided with a car on Millbrook Road. Authorities say the victim was speeding - going almost 60 in a 45 mph zone.Jared Phillip Weaver, 25, of 6837 Coventry Ridge Road, was headed east on Millbrook Road about 2 a.m. when he hit a car making a left turn onto Millbrook, according to an accident report from Raleigh police.The...

• Household Pests and Workplace Injuries

  Robin Martinek | April 04, 2007 4:25 PM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  Lately I have seen a number of clients come to our offices with serious injuries that most likely occurred at their workplace. But because of the state of the law in North Carolina, we were forced to turn them away. I imagine hundreds of employees in North Carolina are exposed to the dangers of poisonous insects, spiders and other creatures at their workplace, and these are very real dangers...

• Minors and Contributory Negligence

  Staff Writer | April 03, 2007 4:22 PM | 0 CommentsRaleigh, NC

  Hypothetical: A car is speeding through a neighborhood, and the car strikes and injuries a child who ran across the road to check the mail.This hypothetical raises at least three legal issues: 1) was the driver negligent? 2) was the child negligent? 3) and, did the driver have the last clear chance to avoid the collision? This article focuses on the second issue: was the child contributorily...