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• In-home nurses get workers compensation benefits for car accidents

  Ric Davis | September 07, 2007 11:56 AM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  Two nurses could collect workers compensation benefits for separate auto accidents that happened while they were driving to see housebound patients -- even though they weren't paid mileage for the trips, the Workers' Compensation Commission has ruled. Commissioners said the claims were compensable despite the going and coming rule because car travel was a necessary, essential and integral part...

• Man fired minutes before injury awarded workers' comp benefits

  Ric Davis | August 31, 2007 10:37 AM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  The following is a published account of a case handled by Christian and Davis as printed in Lawyers Weekly:An Upstate construction worker who had been fired for alleged misconduct just minutes before he was run over by a truck was entitled to workers' comp benefits, the Circuit Court has ruled. The accident happened as the claimant was headed for the jobsite's exit gate after he was let go,...

• Amendment/Retraction to Article Re Life Care Centers of America

  Matt Christian | August 14, 2007 3:53 PM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  In an earlier blog dated July 31, 2007, and titled "Nursing Home Charged Criminally for Abuse" the statement was made that Life Care Centers of America pled "guilty" to criminal charges. This was an inadvertant typographical error. Life Care Centers of America has pled "not guilty" to these charges. We apologize for any inconvenience or issues this error may have caused.For more information...

• Nursing Home to Pay $54M For Resident Who Bled to Death

  Ric Davis | August 10, 2007 7:17 AM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  In the largest personal injury verdict in state history, a New Mexico jury awarded $54 million to the family of a woman who bled to death in her nursing home. The plaintiff's lawyer, Carl Bettinger of Albuquerque, was already well-acquainted with the defendant, having previously litigated more than half a dozen similar negligence trials against Manor Care, a nursing home chain based in Toledo,...

• Nursing Home's Profits Could Be Used To Prevent Abuse and Neglect

  Matt Christian | August 09, 2007 4:41 PM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  As many people know, the nursing home chain, Manor Care, was recently purchased for a very large sum of money. The reports indicate that the CEO of Manor Care, Paul Ormond, would receive between $118 and $186 million dollars as a result of the buy-out. Toby S. Edelman of the Center for Medicare Advocacy and the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform has had an interesting inquiry about...

• Nursing Home Charged Criminally for Abuse

  Matt Christian | July 31, 2007 3:56 PM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  Life Care Centers of America pled not guilty this week to charges of manslaughter, abuse and neglect, and filing false Medicare claims. The charges against the Tennessee based chain come in the wake of an investigation in the death of a 74 year-old woman in Massachussetts.McCauley, a resident confined to a wheelchair at the Life Care Center of Acton, died after wheeling herself out of front...

• Elimination of Contingent Fees: A Threat to Democracy

  Ric Davis | July 26, 2007 11:37 AM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  Contingent fees continue to stir great controversy especially in class action cases, mass torts, and medical malpractice lawsuits. The controversy most recently gained national attention when President Bush banned contingency fees in cases filed by the U.S Government. Federal judges have called contingent fees "grotesque" and plaintiffs claim they will be denied access to the courts without...

• Confidence Restored in Jury System

  Josh Christian | July 25, 2007 12:32 PM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  This week in South Carolina the jury system established by our founding fathers once again has proven its self to be a successful tool for justice. In two separate cases, juries in Marion County and Spartanburg County, have restored confidence in the jury system by delivering justice to injured plaintiffs. In Marion County a injured plaintiff sought damages for injuries which they received in...

• Tort Reform Funded by Big Tobacco

  Ric Davis | July 20, 2007 4:47 PM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  About a decade ago, the folks at the Center for Media and Democracy decided to delve into front groups that parade as citizen initiatives. Their Source Watch is one great resource. Just look at "tort reform" Their documents show the early reach of Tobacco Giant Philip Morris in the creation of the Institute for Legal Reform, today the premier organization that has helped further the so-called...

• Access to Civil Justice Will Motivate Voters

  Ric Davis | July 15, 2007 5:40 PM | 0 CommentsGreenville, SC

  A national poll of 2008 voters by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. reveals voters have anxiety concerning corporate misconduct. There is large support among voters for a strong civil justice system to ensure corporate accountability and fairness. A memo summarizing the poll's findings concludes: Americans are deeply worried about their nation's future, and concern about corporate...