A deposition is a witness’s sworn testimony taken out of court. It is used to gather information as part of the discovery process. While an insurance lawyer can ask many questions at a deposition that would not be permitted at a trial, several areas of interrogation are likely: Lawyers typically start with very easy introductory…
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Earlier this year, R. Ferrell Newman was reappointed as Commissioner of the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission (VWC). As an insurance defense lawyer, Doug Landau had tried many workplace injury cases against Richmond lawyer Newman. Landau had always found this attorney to be smart, well-prepared and a straight shooter. Newman’s six-year term was effective February, 2016. …
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Can a worker whose fingers or toes are amputated because he or she could not read a machine’s instructions get workers’ compensation benefits? In workers’ comp cases, employers or their insurance company can win on the defense of “willful violation of a safety rule” only if they show the employee intended to break a known…
Continue readingThe National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), which studies workers’ compensation and other benefits systems, last August reported that in 2012: workers’ compensation benefits rose by 1.3 percent to $61.9 billion employer costs rose by 6.9 percent to $83.2 billion. The uptick, NASI said, was due to increased employment. “This growth in workers’ compensation spending…
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The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is an insurance company-funded organization which, for years, has been reporting that doctors in the Maryland workers’ comp system were dispensing 40% of all workers’ comp prescriptions, and were capturing 55% of all dollars paid for these prescriptions. This, according to WCRI, was driving up costs in the workers’…
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