On January 17, 2025, CMS issued Version 4.2 of the Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) Reference Guide, linked here. This guide provides guidance to the industry on the process used by…
The North Carolina Supreme Court issued a broad opinion in North State Deli v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. on December 13, 2024, where it broke from the vast majority of jurisdictions and determined…
On Friday, December 13, 2024, our Supreme Court issued a decision in Sturdivant v. N. Carolina Dep’t of Pub. Safety, which affirmed what the North Carolina Legislature has already confirmed: the “total loss…
The SMART Act requires CMS to annually review the costs associated with the collection of Medicare conditional payments and set forth a threshold amount applicable to settlements, judgements, awards, or other payments…
The North Carolina Industrial Commission has released updated instructions for employers, carriers, and third party administrators completing the IC File Number Field when filing documents electronically. This new protocol streamlines the filing…
The North Carolina Supreme Court has long recognized that an employee’s injury caused by their own negligence act, cannot, in itself, bar their workers’ compensation claim. This principle is outlined in Hartley…
Excluding Expert Exchanges: Protecting Attorney-Expert Communications Recently, the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to add a protection that is already recognized by federal courts: the Attorney-Expert protection. The newly…
On Friday March 22, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a favorable decision for the defense in Kluttz-Ellison v. Noah’s Playloft Preschool, No. 173PA22 (N.C. 2024). Lindsay Wikle and Duane Jones from Hedrick…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is expanding the existing Section 111 reporting process to capture information on all workers’ compensation claims involving Medicare beneficiaries that receive a settlement (i.e.,…
By Allen C. Smith, Brooks P. Miller, Julianna Grant, and Austin R. Walsh On September 22, 2023, Senate Bill 452, An Act to Make Various Changes to the Insurance Laws of North…
