While defendants’ Form 44 appeal to the Industrial Commission did not specifically claim entitlement to a credit for the accident and sickness (A&S) disability plan funded by the defendant-employer, defendants did challenge the deputy commissioner’s award, which failed to address ...

Tagged with: Back Injury

Holding: Although plaintiff’s neurosurgeon opined that a workplace incident had aggravated plaintiff’s pre-existing back condition, since the only basis for the neurosurgeon’s opinion was plaintiff’s account of the injury and his resulting pain, the neurosurgeon did not express an independent, ...

Tagged with: Back Injury

Harris v. Southern Commercial Glass (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-287-16, 26 pp.) (Valerie Zachary, J.) Appealed from the Industrial Commission. N.C. App. Holding: Even if the Industrial Commission had found plaintiff’s back injury to be 70 percent related to his 2010 ...

Tagged with: Back Injury

King v. Capital of Cary The only evidence regarding how plaintiff injured his back and neck consists of the account given by plaintiff and the statements of others that are based on plaintiff’s account. Once the Industrial Commission rejected that account, no evidence remained indicating that plaintiff sustained his injury in a work-related accident.

Tagged with: Back Injury credibility Workers Compensation

Williams v. WEB Dubois Community Development Although plaintiff has been on Social Security Disability since 1993 as a result of a non-work-related lupus condition, prior to her work injury, plaintiff was able to work 50 to 55 hours per week at the defendant-employer’s counseling center. Even if some accommodations were made for plaintiff prior to the date of injury consistent with the employer’s obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, plaintiff had the capacity to earn wages prior to her Nov. 20, 2008 injury.

Tagged with: Back Injury Workers Compensation

Making a defense theory work for your plaintiff is sound strategy, especially when it helps your client hang on to a bigger chunk of a $480,000 settlement award. Attorney David Ventura negotiated a settlement with Flowe Grading Co.’s insurance company, Cincinnati Insurance Co., after his client was injured in an accident involving one of Flowe’s drivers. The plaintiff, a herbicide technician with the N.C. Department of Transportation, suffered back injuries that required a spinal implant and lumbar fusion surgery.

Tagged with: Back Injury NCDOT

Wallace v. Intelicoat Technologies After she injured her back at her heavy-duty job with defendant, plaintiff found a light-duty, lower-paying job with another employer, and defendant started paying her temporary partial disability benefits. Even though one of plaintiff’s doctors subsequently released her to return to work, defendant violated a consent order when it stopped paying plaintiff temporary partial disability benefits.

Tagged with: Back Injury Release to Work Workers’ Compensation

Thompson v. Fedex Ground/RPS, Inc. Even though defendant admitted the compensability of plaintiff’s back injury and the Industrial Commission entered a prior award regarding plaintiff’s back condition, plaintiff was not entitled to a presumption of continuing disability as to her claims of fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome. We affirm the Commission’s denial of benefits for plaintiff’s fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome.

Tagged with: Back Injury Workers’ Compensation

Alawar v. Courtyard Marriott North Dr. Shehzad Choudry expressed his opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that plaintiff’s current need for surgery is related to the back injury he suffered while working for the defendant-employer in 2003. Dr. Leonard Nelson also opined that plaintiff’s current condition is a “natural consequence” of his original injury. The fact that the doctors also gave conflicting testimony that lessened their certainty concerning the cause of plaintiff’s current condition goes to the weight of their testimony, but it does not preclude consideration of the testimony altogether.

Tagged with: Back Injury Medical Testimony Workers’ Compensation

Leovao v. Pike Electric, Inc. Plaintiff fell from a height of 10 to 15 feet, fracturing five ribs and injuring his neck and back. Although defendants have not accepted plaintiff’s neck and back injuries as compensable in this claim, they have not contended that either condition is unrelated to the compensable accident, nor did they preserve any such issue in the pre-trial agreement.

Tagged with: Back Injury disability Workers’ Compensation