Local Law Blogs

Attorney fees and Medicaid lien cap in North Carolina personal injury cases

Posted on July 17, 2009
Just had a great straight forward question about the interaction of Medicaid Liens, Attorney Fees, and medical provider liens pursuant to NCGS 44-49-50. QUESTION: Is Medicaid's lien capped at one third of liability proceeds received or half of what is...

Obama on Medical Malpractice Reform and Health Care

Posted on June 16, 2009
So we all know that President Obama is talking about some type of Health Care reform in America. I can tell you from years of representing those injured in car accidents, here in Raleigh and across the state of North...

Terrible News for Wake County: Garner ConAngra Foods plant explosion

Posted on June 10, 2009
CNN and WRAL are reporting that two people were found dead and a third person is still believed missing in a Garner food plant heavily damaged in a morning explosion. Four people were in critical condition after the explosion at...

Prejudgment Interest in Arbitration Awards: Updated decisions

Posted on May 12, 2009
One issue that is constantly debated on arbitration panels is the issue of "Prejugment" Interest on the Arbitration Award. A new case from the North Carolina Court of Appeals clarifies this often hotly debated subject.

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PA Federal Western District tosses out Medicaid Lien...sorta

Posted on April 22, 2009
Congratulations to attorney Patrick J. Loughren of Pennsylvania for his victory in Tristani v. Richman, a medicaid subrogation case. I don't have a lot of time today to dig through this case, which is 50 pages long and denser than...

NC Supreme Court Rejects Ahlborn (mostly)

Posted on April 15, 2009
So what should a (or this Raleigh) personal injury lawyer do with similar Medicaid issues right now? Well, I'd be in no rush to get them resolved in state court. I think our Superior Court Judges are stuck with Andrews right now. One might also consider going the Federal route...

Can the tides of Change push back bad ERISA decisions? Let us Hope.

Posted on November 14, 2008
Congress passed Erisa in 1974 to protect the pensions and employer-provided health plans which millions of Americans rely upon. Yet the supreme court has twisted this law into something quite different. As noted by Senate judiciary chairman, Patrick Leahy, the court's perversion of Erisa is a prime example of decisions that have turned laws "on their heads, making them protections for big business rather than ordinary citizens...

Results of 2008 NC judicial elections and downticket endorsements

Posted on November 13, 2008
Here are the folks I endorsed that were elected: NC SUPREME COURT Sam J. Ervin, IV ? Court of Appeals (Tyson seat) www.ervinforcourtofappeals.com North Carolina Court of Appeals Jim Wynn ? Court of Appeals www.judgewynn.com Cheri Beasley ? Court of...

Judicial Endorsements and Down Ticket Races in North Carolina

Posted on October 14, 2008
Well, we are at less than 30 days to election time and it is time for my annual Judicial Endorsements post. NC elects all of our Judges, we do not have an appointment system or retention elections. This is a...

Q & A for Lawyer's Clients about Structured Settlements and the AIG Problem

Posted on September 18, 2008
Alleviating Structured Settlement Fears- Q & A My client is considering a structured settlement but the situation with AIG has them (and me) worried about the safety of an annuity investment. Here are some of the questions I anticipate:

Lawyers and structured settlements: what should a lawyer do for clients in the AIG crisis?

Posted on September 16, 2008
I'm starting this blog entry to serve as a clearing house for information for personal injury lawyers seeking information to inform their clients about any risks now associated with using a structure.

McCain v. Obama on Tort Reform

Posted on August 30, 2008
That said, where do Obama and McCain stand on Tort Reform? I've tried to present the information below from the most unbiased sources I can find.

Lawyers and iPhones

Posted on August 08, 2008
I've recently switched over to using the iPhone as my primary wireless device. I'm posting this directly to the blog from the iPhone. The photo was taken with the iPhone last weekend at the zoo. That is a baby elephant...

NC Trial Law Blog hits 30,000 views

Posted on June 25, 2008
Well, the world's ugliest law blog has hit 30,000 unique visitors after a little less than 2 years of operations. Not bad for a blog concentrating on one of the more boring topics in the world: liens and subrogation. Here...

How does Medicaid interact with medical payments insurance?

Posted on April 30, 2008
I received a good question today and thought I would share my thoughts on the issue. The question concerns Medicaid and "med pay". In NC, Medicaid gets 100% of med pay (first party) insurance proceeds. The problem is that quite...

Law Suit Crisis in NC? Not even close, malpractice refund check "in the mail"

Posted on March 11, 2008
As a personal injury lawyer in the state capitol, Raleigh, I hear a lot of "complaining" by physicians about "crazy lawsuits." I always tell them (many of whom are friends) that malpractice lawsuits in North Carolina are either declining or...

Contributory Negligence in NC: why comparative won't raise insurance rates

Posted on March 04, 2008
Contrubutory Negligence is an issue that people don't know or care about, until they face the problem themselves. Basically, in NC, even if you are hurt by someone else's negligence, if the other person can prove you are just a little bit to blame for your injury, you are barred from any recovery...

NC Arbitration and Prejudgment Interest: New COA case allows award

Posted on January 31, 2008
We've had a great decision published by our North Carolina Court of Appeals which finally clarifies the issue of prejudgment interest on Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist Arbitrations in North Carolina. The gist of the problem was that the while the Uniform Arbitration Act provides that arbitration Awards can be reduced to judgments and filed as judgments, AND judgments in North Carolina are subject to prejudgment interest at 8% per annum, the insurance policies were not clear as to whether pre-judgment interest was covered under the policy...

New Video

Posted on January 19, 2008

Allstate Pays Millions to Hide the Truth of Unfair Claims Practices

Posted on December 20, 2007
Looks like Allstate is willing to pay $2.4 Million dollars to hide their claims practices: Allstate won?t produce records despite $25,000-a-day fineBy JOE LAMBEThe Kansas City Star Allstate Insurance Co. lawyers made this clear Tuesday to a Jackson County judge: They will not produce key records for public view no matter how much he fines them...

NC Court of Appeals Upholds Ban on Sexual Predators in Public Parks

Posted on October 03, 2007
N.C. COURT OF APPEALS Where the right to intrastate travel is a "right of function," the right to enter public parks is not encompassed by either the fundamental right of travel or the right to intrastate travel. We affirm the trial court order upholding the defendant-town's ordinance, which prohibits registered sex offenders from knowingly entering any public park owned and operated by the town...

Raleigh Personal Injury: Lawyers Paying Bloggers to "testify"

Posted on September 14, 2007
Because I run a business that is, in part, dependent on advertising, I check out Google searches to see where my firm "places" in the Google rankings.  While looking through some of the "top hits" I found a local Raleigh firm "recommended" by a Blogger...

New Lawyers Seminar Materials: NC Personal Injury Lawyer Checklist

Posted on September 13, 2007
I had a great time speaking to the New Lawyers at the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers today. I promised to post the supporting materials and  you can download the Personal injury Checklist here: Download final_pi_check_list.pdf Good luck to all of you...

Handy age calculator

Posted on September 12, 2007
For those of you who are like me and get confused calculating birthdays and age, I've found a nifty little age calculator. I'm always second guessing myself on when a minor becomes an adult and how that figures into Statute Of Limitations.  In NC, a minor's statute of limitations does not begin until their 18th birthday, and then runs for the same number of years an adult would enjoy...

Converting Documents to PDF files

Posted on September 07, 2007
Now that the legal world is moving toward a "paperless" approach to things, I get some questions about the best ways to convert documents into PDF files.  Most states moving to "paperless filing" require documents to be submitted in PDF format...

Medicare will no longer cover hospital mapractice costs and could eliminate liens

Posted on August 20, 2007
I read an interesting newspaper article over the weekend by Robert Pear for the New York Times News Service.  Read the article here.  Another good version of the article can be read here. The article says that the Bush administration "will no longer pay the extra costs of treating preventable errors, injuries and infections that occur in hospitals...

Allstate Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charges

Posted on August 07, 2007
A friend forwarded me a great article by a columnist who writes for a Philadelphia newspaper.  It exposes some of the horrible practices that I've noticed over the years by one of America's largest insurers, Allstate.  Some of Allstate's practices are so extreme that I've had Allstate adjuster say to me "I know this case is worth more, but this is all I'm authorized to pay...

Could prisoners escape ERISA claims for subrogation?

Posted on July 16, 2007
The WorkPlaceProf Blog has posted an interesting case which has some very minor posisbilities of being a "nose under the tent" in NC to avoid ERISA liens.  Basically, the case cited from the US Supreme Court has allowed a state to trump ERISA in order to "take" money away from a retirement plan for a prisoner to pay for his "stay" in prison...

Great video on the myths of "Tort Reform": Mr. Fancy Pants

Posted on July 12, 2007
This is a great YouTube video on the issue of "Tort Reform." The video does a great job showing how giant corporations have twisted and distorted the truth about law suits in America simply to poison jury pools.  They do this so they can continue to deny responsiblity for wrong doing, and basically "save a buck" at the expense of injured people who have done nothing to cause their own injuries...