Court of Appeals says that employer had notice of injury, cannot direct medical care
Today a three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that an employee of Bank of America did not need to give written notice of his injury, where he was hit by a car while driving at work. The employee called his employer from the car, and several co-workers went to help him; yet Bank of America had said that it did not have sufficient notice of the injury. The Full Industrial Commission and the Court of Appeals rejected this argument, in Yingling v. Bank of America. The Court also held that although the employer in a workers’ compensation case normally directs...
Read MoreCourt of Appeals win in Fisher vs. CWA, et al
The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued an opinion today in favor of the Communication Workers of America and their Local Chapter 3602 in Fisher v. CWA. The case was the first case that we know of brought under North Carolina’s Identity Theft Protection Act. The Business Court, Judge Albert Diaz, and now the Court of Appeals determined that the plaintiffs’ claims were preempted by the National Labor Relations Act but did not reach the ITPA question. Robert Weaver of Quinn, Walls, Weaver and Davis in Alabama represented CWA and Ann Groninger represented CWA Local...
Read MoreCourt of Appeals decides two new Workers’ Compensation cases
On August 2, 2011, the NC Court of Appeals decided the case of Capps v. Southeastern Cable, in which it held that an installer of cable TV and internet services was an employee, and not an independent contractor. The Court based its decision on the conditions of the employment, and gave no weight to the fact that the injured worker was called an independent contractor and had been required to get his own, inadequate, workers’ compensation insurance. On the same day, the Court also decided the case of Wynn v. United Health Services, where it held that if an employer requires an injured...
Read MoreCourt sides with Plaintiff, Dismissing appeal in Workers’ Comp Case
In Evans v. Hendrick Automotive Group, the North Carolina Court of Appeals published this opinion, ruling that defendants improperly appealed a non-final decision of the Industrial Commission, and dismissing their appeal. Ms. Evans was an office manager for a Hendrick dealership in Texas. She was injured during a business trip to Charlotte, while she was walking back from an employer-sponsored dinner to her hotel. The primary issue is whether the Industrial Commission correctly concluded that Ms. Evans’ accident arose out of and was in the course of her employment and properly...
Read MoreNC Supreme Court Sends Parking Lot Case Back to Commission
The North Carolina Supreme Court has sent a tricky workers’ compensation case back the Industrial Commission for additional fact-finding. Cardwell v. Jenkins Cleaner involves a plaintiff who was injured when she slipped on some black ice three feet away from the back door to her office. Our coverage of the Court of Appeals’ split-decision in the case is here. The Supreme Court, in a short per curiam order, concluded that the Industrial Commission failed to make findings on one of the key factual issues: whether the cement area where plaintiff fell was part of...
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