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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After you are injured in an on-the-job accident, you may be told by your doctor or physical therapist that you may soon be able to go back to your job. In other words, the treating healthcare providers believe you have healed sufficiently for you to go back to your employer. However, very few physical therapists…
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