Tire Inspector Successfully Defends North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Benefits
Breaking news in a key North Carolina workers compensation case: The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld an award in the case of Hatley v. Continental General Tire, stipulating that the claimant (Hatley) was entitled to temporary total disability benefits pursuant to an injury he suffered while repairing a tire.
Background
Hatley was a tire inspector who hurt his hand during a blowout accident at work. After he got treated, his physician put him on light duty restriction. Following this rest, he tried to go back to work but found that he could not perform his duties because of continued problems with his injured hand. His employer told him that he had to continue working or retire. The inspector chose to retire and take a new position as a teacher’s assistant, six months after the fact. His employer sought to get out of paying for disability claims; he alleged that not all of Hatley’s symptoms could be traced back to the at-work accident. (Pursuant to the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act, an injured worker must be able to show that a workplace injury caused a disability that resulted in impairment.)
The employer’s argument fell short, according to the Court of Appeals, because no doctor testified precisely how much of the injury resulted from work place trauma and how much resulted from other factors. Without good medical testimony to this point, the Court concluded that “any attempt to apportion plaintiff’s injury would have been speculative and improper.”
Although the plaintiff in this case managed to hold on to his temporary total disability benefits, many other workers with legitimate claims are not so lucky. They can find their benefits retroactively stripped from them. If you have questions or concerns about how to handle a difficult employer or a non-cooperative insurance company, it’s probably in your best interest to discuss your case in confidence with an experienced North Carolina workers’ compensation attorney.
More Web Resources:
Hatley v. Continental General Tire
The North Carolina Court of Appeals
