8:55 Welcome and Introductions
9:00 Ethical Entanglements on the Internet*‡
Brian P. Oten, North Carolina State Bar, Raleigh
Explore ways technology impacts our professional responsibility, including a lawyer's interaction with social media, working remotely from home and security threats facing today's law office.
10:00 Break
10:10 Case Law Update
S. Camille Payton, Hunter & Everage, Charlotte
Delve into the important workers' compensation decisions of 2020 thus far.
10:55 Break
11:05 Litigating Extended-Benefits Cases
E. Stewart Poisson, Poisson Poisson & Bower PLLC, Wadesboro
Examine the Industrial Commission statutes and requirements for extended-benefits cases. Then discuss the applicable law on disability, planning for hearing and depositions, and case strategy.
11:50 Break
12:00 How to Navigate Medicare Set-Asides in Admitted and Denied Cases
Daniel W. Hayes, Teague Campbell Dennis & Gorham LLP, Asheville
After reviewing the basics of Medicare conditional payment verification, attendees walk through best practices for considering Medicare’s future interests in workers' compensation settlements, including voluntary Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services submissions, non-submit Medicare set-asides, zero-dollar allocations and legal opinion letters.
1:00 Lunch Break
1:30 Subrogation in Workers' Compensation Claims
Roy G. Pettigrew, Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP, Raleigh
Take an in-depth look at N.C.G.S. § 97-10.2 with a focus on key statutory provisions and recent case decisions impacting practitioners. A subrogation attorney shares key insights to avoid pitfalls and common mistakes when navigating N.C.G.S. § 97-10.2
2:30 Break
2:40 Practice Before the Industrial Commission During COVID-19
James C. "Jim" Gillen, North Carolina Industrial Commission, Hendersonville
Layla T. Santa Rosa, North Carolina Industrial Commission, Raleigh
Receive an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on the Industrial Commission. Then gain insight into the pandemic's effects on commission hearings and current policies concerning remote and in-person hearings, including changes to the Uniform Pre-Trial Order.
3:40 Adjourn
*Indicates portion providing Ethics/Professional Responsibility credit
‡Indicates portion providing Technology Training credit
Thank you for joining us for Advanced Topics of Workers' Compensation (2020 Workers' Compensation Section Fall CLE)!
From the ethical entanglements of working remotely from home, to the amended rules and procedures of practicing before the North Carolina Industrial Commission, COVID-19 has transformed the practice of workers' compensation law.
James C. "Jim" Gillen was nominated by Governor Roy Cooper to serve as a Commissioner in January 2019, and he was confirmed by the General Assembly in April 2019.
Gillen began his career with the Industrial Commission in 1994, working as an Agency Legal Specialist under several Commissioners and as a Special Deputy Commissioner in the Executive Secretary's Office. Gillen then served as a Deputy Commissioner from 2005 until confirmed as a Commissioner.
Gillen received his B.A. degree in English from North Carolina State University in 1991 and his J.D. degree from Campbell University in 1994.
Click here for more information about Gillen.
Anna R. Hamrick is a partner with Grimes Teich Anderson LLP in Asheville. She is a North Carolina native who has been practicing law for more than 23 years. Anna received a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1991, and her law degree from George Washington University in 1994. She is a North Carolina Board Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law and concentrates her practice in the areas of Workers' Compensation and Social Security Disability.
Anna is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell®, the facilitator of a peer review ratings process. She is also included in the 2018-2021 editions of Best Lawyers In America® for Workers Compensation Law-Claimants and is included on the list of North Carolina Super Lawyers® for 2015-2016, 2018-2020.
Click here for more information about Anna.
Daniel W. Hayes is a partner with Teague Campbell Dennis & Gorham, LLP, in the Asheville, North Carolina office. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina's Honors College (1994) and School of Law (1997). He provides Medicare Secondary Payer consultation, preparing Medicare Set-Aside proposals and legal opinion letters in both liability and workers' compensation settlements. He is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and South Carolina. He holds designation as a Medicare Set-Aside Consultant Certified (MSCC) and Certified Medicare Secondary Payer Professional (CMSP). He has been included in The Best Lawyers in America © for Workers' Compensation Law from 2010 to the present. He is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell ®. In 2018, he was inducted as a Fellow of the College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers. He wrote the Concurrent Laws: Medicare chapter of the LexisNexis Practice Guide North Carolina Workers' Compensation (2017 Edition) and is the author of "Medicare Issues in Liability and Workers' Compensation Settlements", published by the South Carolina Bar in 2015.
Click here for more information about Daniel.
Dawn C. Lane is a partner in the Raleigh office of Cranfill Sumner and Hartzog LLP. Her practice is focused in the areas of estate planning, elder law, alternative dispute resolution, guardianship, estate and trust litigation, special needs planning, and workers' compensation.
Dawn has been a member of the North Carolina State Bar since 1996 and is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section, Elder Law and Special Needs Section as well and the Dispute Resolution Section. She has presented various workers' compensation and litigation topics to employers, medical and vocational rehabilitation professionals and insurance carriers.
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Brian P. Oten is the Director for Ethics and Special Programs at the North Carolina State Bar.
Brian joined the State Bar's Office of Counsel in 2007 as deputy counsel and moved to his current role in 2018 where he serves as chief ethics counsel and director for the boards of legal specialization and paralegal certification.
Brian earned his B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill and his J.D. from the UNC School of Law.
Click here for more information about Brian.
S. Camille Payton is an attorney with Hunter & Everage in Charlotte. She is former chair of the NCBA Workers’ Compensation Section Council and co-editor of the NCBA Forms Manual. She currently co-chairs the NCBA Awards and Honors Naming Committee. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and received her J.D. from the University of Texas. In 2018, Payton was honored by being named to the College of Workers’ Compensation Attorneys.
Click here for more information about Payton.
Roy G. Pettigrew is a partner in the Raleigh office of Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP. He dedicates approximately half of his practice to Workers’ Compensation defense work and the other half to Subrogation work, where he works tirelessly to recoup losses for his clients. Roy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and received his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law.
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E. Stewart Poisson is a partner with Poisson, Poisson & Bower, PLLC. She practices in the firm’s Wilmington and Wadesboro offices, representing plaintiffs in workers’ compensation and personal injury matters. She received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina in 2001 and received her J.D. with honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2004. In law school, she was an editor on the North Carolina Law Review and received the William T. Joyner Award for Excellence in Journal Writing.
The North Carolina State Bar certified Ms. Poisson as a workers’ compensation specialist in 2009 and recertified her in 2014 and 2019. She serves as an advisory member of the North Carolina State Bar Ethics Committee and as a member of the Workers’ Compensation Specialization Subcommittee.Click here for more information about Ms. Poisson.
Deputy Commissioner Layla T. Santa Rosa was appointed as a Deputy Commissioner in January 2019. She joined the Industrial Commission in 2005, first as a Special Deputy Commissioner in the Executive Secretary's Office, and then as the Law Clerk in the Full Commission Section.
In 2009, Layla left the Commission to practice workers' compensation law with a law firm in Raleigh, where she was a Senior Associate for six years before returning to the Commission.
Layla graduated, magna cum laude, from Peace College and earned her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she was a member of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation.
Click here for more information about Layla.