Georgia Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

Erie County, New York got a jump on much of the rest of the state when they passed a law against texting while driving in 2009, and it's pretty obvious that their law enforcement are all over following through on it. Between mid-July of last year and mid-February of this year, Erie County handed out 662 texting tickets; in doing so, they lead counties across upstate New York as well as heavily-populated communities in Nassau (Long Island) and Suffolk (the Bronx) Counties.

Sgt. Dan Dytchkowskyj, the commander of the Erie County Sheriff's Traffic Bureau, says, "The numbers show we are doing a great job in enforcing the law. I don't think we have more people in Erie County texting than in the rest of New York State. It's just that the local policing agencies have been enforcing the law. We have more experience, but these other counties will catch up."

Since July, when the more stringent New York state law regarding texting while driving went into effect, Nassau County has doled out 202 tickets while Suffolk County has issued 476. In comparison to Erie's numbers, Kings County, New York and Queens issued more citations, with numbers of 749, 1,375 and 1099 respectively.

The new law carries a $150 fine and three points on a driver's license.

Continue reading "New York ups the ante on texting while driving; Georgia there, too." »

Dr. Aria Sabit is a 36-year-old neurosurgeon who had the benefit of a seven-year residency, the final year of which he spent as a chief resident. He also currently has 17 malpractice lawsuits against him; all the suits deal with surgeries Sabit performed in exactly as many months from the middle of 2009 to the end of 2010.

Sabit now practices in eastern Michigan, but the allegations against him originate in Ventura, California, where he started operating in July 2009. Fresh off of his neurosurgery residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, Sabit was partnered with Dr. Moustapha Abou-Samra, a reputable neurosurgeon. According to Sabit, he began to perform some of the most difficult operations at the hospital and earned a reputation as a 'go-to physician' as a result. By December 2010, Sabit was fired by Ventura County Neurosurgical Associates Medical Group, according to a lawsuit filed by him against the group. The lawsuit was later withdrawn.

Ventura internist Dr. Jack Padour says, "He was introduced as the next generation of neurosurgery. We thought, 'Great, we need a guy like that.'" Two of Padour's patients are among those who filed suit against Sabit. All 17 lawsuits were filed individually by patients after Dr. Sabit stopped practicing in Ventura. They allege that he performed spinal fusions --an operation that utilizes metal rods and screws to anchor the spine in place while bone grafts are used to generate bone growth to fuse vertebra-- in which hardware was misplaced, screws pulled out of bone, there was too much hardware used, some surgeries were simply unnecessary, or postoperative infections resulted.

Continue reading "My workers' comp doctor has suggested fusion surgery. Can this be risky?" »

Michael Moebes of Moebes Law, LLC has been named to the Georgia Rising Stars list as one of the top up-and-coming attorneys in Georgia for 2012. Each year, no more than 2.5% of the lawyers in the state receive this honor. The selection for this respected list is made by the research team at Super Lawyers.

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a rigorous multi-phased process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates, and peer reviews by practice area. The Rising Stars lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers magazines and in leading city and regional magazines across the country.

For more information about Super Lawyers, go to superlawyers.com.

While we here at Moebes Law usually cover incidents and accidents that fall under workers' compensation laws, today I'd like to talk about automobile accidents. Car accidents are a daily occurrence, even more so in major metropolitan areas like Atlanta. Car accident attorneys get call after call about the intricacies of victims' rights and responsibilities after an accident.

Here are some typical queries and my best answers to them:


Should I see a doctor after my accident? If so, when should I visit one?

Yes. Okay, back up: Not only yes, but YES. Go to the doctor immediately if you have any pain, discomfort or indication of injury. If you 'wait and see' if you'll 'feel better', you will likely weaken any case you may have for the reimbursement of your medical bills. Conversely, don't go to the doctor or emergency room if you do not have any injuries in order to create a claim. The courts do not look kindly on fraudulent plaintiffs.

Is there any instance in which I shouldn't call my insurance company?

In a word, no. People often cite the fact that they don't want insurance companies involved for fear of their rates rising. If a police report is filed, your insurance company will find out anyway. Go ahead and be proactive; contact your agent and allow them to try and work on your behalf as quickly as possible. If you wait you could void any claim in your favor.

How do I handle my hospital or doctor bills post-treatment?

First, lots of insurers will say both that you need to send them your bills and that you need to sign a medical records release. Do not do this. They are not ordering your records and requesting your bills to facilitate payment. They want to try and find a reason to avoid cutting a check and will do so by any means necessary.

Second, you need to follow up with the hospital's billing department to make sure that they bill your health insurance. Your health insurance will cover bills from car accidents, but only as secondary coverage. This means that your car insurance is billed first for any benefits available under the medical payments portion of your policy. Hospitals may neglect (or be resistant) to bill your health insurance because they want to collect at 100% rather than the fee schedule agreed upon under your health insurance.

Is there anything else of importance that I need to know?

Yes! Do NOT work with a doctor or lawyer that calls you unsolicited after a car accident. In the state of Georgia, it's illegal to reach out to victims of wrecks, but there are those that do so. There are people that are paid kickbacks by attorneys and physicians to do that very thing. It's immoral and unethical...don't fall prey to them; to them you're merely a dollar sign!

Entrust your case to someone you have carefully selected when you are not under duress or the influence of painkillers (ha).

While Moebes Law handles only workers' compensation claims, feel free to contact our firm and we will put you in touch with reputable, capable counsel to assist you with your car accident case!

By law, bartenders can't let an obviously drunk person leave their bar and drive a vehicle. A city councilor in Boston, Massachusetts wants to add another stop-gap to drunk driving by making sure that the keys of drunk people stay in the hands of the valets to which they have been entrusted.

It all started when Boston city council member Rob Consalvo was taken aback at a remark that was made by a convicted drunk driver during his sentencing hearing back in December 2010. Colin Ratiu, the hit-and-run driver, killed a Northeastern student in a 2010 accident that occurred after he left a concert. "He said that he was so drunk at the concert, he said he couldn't believe that the valet there gave him keys," said Consalvo. It was this that spurred him to action.

Councilor Consalvo then proposed the creation of a law that would empower valets to keep drunk drivers out of the driver's seat. As of now it isn't law for a valet to withhold the keys of an obviously intoxicated person, but it is a fairly common practice.

If a law were passed, then --just like bartenders and restaurant managers-- valets would be required to keep intoxicated persons from getting behind the wheel. They would also require training on the signs and signals that might telegraph to them that the valet patron is drunk.

An informal poll of Bostonians by Boston's WHDH 7News found them in support of Consalvo's proposal. "The responsibility should still stay with the establishment, the valet parker. Just like the bartender," said Michael Morrison.

Consalvo agrees: "If they are giving keys away to drunk drivers and those drunk drivers are killing people, I would argue that they are liable anyway. So, we're not looking at the valet companies as the criminals here or the ones we're targeting, we're doing opposite. We're saying, 'Let's get creative, you partner with us as a city, work with us to be our last line of defense to keep these cars off the road."

If you were to hear the phrase 'workers' compensation fraud', what would it bring to mind? It seems that most people might assume that phrase means that the system is being gamed by employees seeking benefits to which they are not entitled. In fact, the phrase 'workers' compensation fraud' more aptly describes the actions by companies; while fraud by employees certainly exists, more common --and far more costly-- are the dollars bilked from the government by companies and corporations. This runs into the billions each year.

According to North Carolina attorney Leonard Jernigan, "...states could close large portions of their deficits without raising taxes or cutting spending..." and overall workers' compensation costs would be lower if said states would just prosecute those entities defrauding the system."

When companies commit reporting frauds, they cause state workers' comp insurance funds to be under-funded (and possibly requiring replenishment by taxpayers), workers are left without insurance if they are hurt on the job and receive poor or no care for their injuries.

Jernigan compiled a list of the top ten employer fraud cases of 2011. The associated dollar signs are galling and here are a few of those ten that I find the most distasteful:

1) AIG: You remember those guys, don't you? They got your tax dollars in 2007's economic downturn. While your money was bailing them out, they were underpaying state insurance pools to the tune of $1 billion. They only have to pay $450 million of it back, though. So they profited from you, Citizen Taxpayer, not once but TWICE.

2) Not only did Compensation Risk Managers (CRM) act as trust administrator for 900 small businesses in New York state, they also committed $1 billion in fraud. When they were sued for underestimating the liabilities of the businesses they represented, they filed bankruptcy. The state of New York was then forced to go after the small businesses that were CRM's clients, as they'd collectively underpaid (unknown to them) over $600 million. Many of the businesses involved were shuttered as a result.

3) California residents Devon Lynn Kile and Michael Petronella are partners in marriage and in insurance fraud to the amount of $30 million. While they were busy underreporting payroll, they were also busy leading a lavish lifestyle that included costly watches and cars. The couple has been ordered to make restitution to the tune of $2.8 million, effectively netting $27 million in profit.

4) Carl Dale Fuller is a North Carolina business man who issued fake insurance certificates (and even paid a few claims) while pocketing a nice, healthy $2,716,537.

As you can see, in each of these cases a significant amount of money was bilked from states and walked away in the pockets of these criminals who not only profited, but left workers without needed coverage.
 
There is lots of talk about workers' compensation reform, but it's evident from just this small sampling of cases that it doesn't need to come from the ground up; It seems to me that the most necessary reforms involve those at the company level who would seek to defraud the workers a company is supposed to care for, protect, and provide relief to in times of work-related injury or disability. Employees aren't costing billions in taxpayer losses; companies are.

Remember back in January when I told you that where workers' compensation cases are concerned, insurance company attorneys would look for information about a Plaintiff wherever they could....including social media?

Well, apparently Zakery Clement didn't read that particular post, which wouldn't be that much of a problem, except that he could have benefited from my second bullet point. It pertains to internet networking tools as they relate to workers' compensation cases:

Be mindful of other things you post as they relate to your case. For instance, say you're suing an employer for worker's comp benefits because of a fall. In that circumstance, maybe you shouldn't be posting pictures of yourself on Facebook that show you posing at the top of a ladder, flashing a cheesy grin and giving two thumbs up."

In May of 2009 Clement (who is from Pine Bluff, Arkansas) was injured when a refrigerator fell on him during the course of a workday at Johnson's Warehouse Showroom. As a result, he was compensated by Johnson's and National Union Fire Insurance for medical expenses; he also got temporary total disability benefits for nearly two years.

Clement had three surgeries as a result of the injury and was seeking an extension of benefits when an administrative law judge (ALJ) and the state workers' compensation commission denied his request. Clement was claiming excruciating pain and the need for further treatment, but Defendant's attorneys introduced pictures of him 'drinking and partying'.

Zakery Clement appealed the decision, arguing that his Facebook and MySpace photos had no bearing on his case and needed medical treatment. Steven McNeely, Clement's attorney, said, "Allowing those Facebook photos for the proceeding is an injustice because it takes away from the dignity of the working class. That had nothing to do with whether or not he had an hernia. It's irrelevant, immaterial and prejudicial. It should be about whether Zack needed additional treatment."

Clement lost the appeal. Judge David M. Glover, Arkansas State Court of Appeals, stated in a written opinion, "We find no abuse of discretion in the allowance of photographs. Clement contended that he was in excruciating pain, but these pictures show him drinking and partying."

Glover further wrote, "Certainly these pictures could have a bearing on a Clement's credibility, albeit a negative effect that Clement might not wish to be demonstrated to the ALJ or the Commission. We hold that there was not an abuse of discretion in allowing the photographs."

To summarize, it's okay to be twenty-seven years old and foolish. However, you might not want to post evidence of your foolishness on social media networks if you are in the middle of a workers' compensation dispute. That hearkens back to my fourth point in that post last month:

If you have an expectation of privacy, then you should act accordingly: Lock down all your social media as tightly as possible. Blogs can be password-protected, Twitter can be locked, Facebook allows you to show as much or as little of your life as you prefer based on individual settings. Still, though, there are no guarantees that your online life cannot be accessed."

Need help navigating the workers' compensation system?  You should give us a call at 404-354-5432!