Call Us 919-240-4054This semester Valerie Johnson is teaching at two law schools. At Wake Forest Law School, Valerie is co-teaching Workers’ Compensation: a study of the substantive and procedural elements of state mandated compensation systems for injured workers with an emphasis on the employer/employee relation, compensable injuries and occupational diseases, and the exclusivity of the remedy; additionally, these systems will be […]
Personal Injury
Latest workers’ compensation decision from NC Court of Appeals
Earlier this week, the North Carolina Court of Appeals published its latest workers’ compensation decision in Hedges v. Wake County Public School System. In this case, the plaintiff had stumbled and fell when she walked into a workroom to make copies of payroll materials. The plaintiff did not trip on something; she simply stumbled and fell. Because of […]
Ann prevails in trial to recover workers’ compensation award
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 […]
NC Court of Appeals on workers’ compensation for parking lot injuries
The latest workers’ compensation opinion from the North Carolina Court of Appeals, Cardwell v. Jenkins Cleaner, addresses the “going and coming” rule. “As a general rule, injuries occurring while an employee travels to and from work do not arise in the course of employment and thus are not compensable.” This “going and coming” rule has further evolved […]
NC Court of Appeals July 20, 2010 decisions on workers’ compensation — part 2
The third workers’ compensation decision that the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued last week was Reaves v. Industrial Pump Service, a case that had already been to the Court last year. Under the Pickrell presumption, “When an employee is found dead under circumstances indicating that death took place within the time and space limits of […]
NC Court of Appeals July 20, 2010 decisions on workers’ compensation — part 1
On July 20, 2010, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued four published opinions regarding workers’ compensation. The first decision, Morales-Rodriguez v. Carolina Quality Exteriors, Inc., concerned whether the plaintiff was an employee or an independent contractor of the defendant. The plaintiff sought benefits for injuries sustained when he fell from a building at Nags Head, […]