Late last year, George W. Lennon announced his plan to retire on December 31, 2020. George has been practicing law for 44 years and has spent the majority of those years as a founding partner at Lennon, Camak & Bertics, PLLC. While we will miss his drive, compassion and legal excellence, we are excited about his well-deserved retirement.

George’s inspiration to practice law comes from his grandfather, who was an attorney for over 50 years in Wilmington and provided a positive influence, as well as his strong interest in history. George was active in Naval ROTC as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina and then attended law school through the G.I Bill after active duty in the Navy.

George’s early career experiences helped to inspire his passion for workers’ compensation and Social Security disability law. While representing the NC Department of Labor, OSHA Division, he learned the mechanisms of injury and occupational disease. Later, he worked in the Tort Claims Section of the Attorney General’s Office, where he defended State agencies in workers’ compensation claims. “Through that work, I learned the complex rules and law required to practice workers’ compensation law before the Industrial Commission,” he explained. This led him to become one of the first attorneys in the State to be designated a certified specialist when the State bar established a panel in workers’ compensation law.

After serving in the Attorney General’s Office for 10 years, George joined a private firm and helped build the practice. Over the years, it evolved into Lennon, Camak & Bertics. According to George, the firm is unique for focusing long-term on achieving the best outcome for the client. He explained: “We are not in a rush to get a quick (low) settlement. We have cases that have been open for decades because the defense was not willing to pay fair value to settle…We spend extra time educating our clients so they understand how the system works and can make better informed decisions.”

For George, practicing law was all about helping others, whether by successfully representing clients or mentoring other attorneys and staff members. He admitted, “I will miss the people—clients, staff, other attorneys and mediators that make work interesting and our mission worthwhile.”

Making over 100 appearances in the NC Supreme Court and Court of Appeals during his career, George has had many memorable cases. But one of the most interesting ones was Adams v. AVX Corporation, a landmark decision of the NC Supreme Court affecting workers’ compensation cases. “I take great satisfaction in having worked on landmark cases which have established legal principles that will help for many years to come,” he said.

After a successful law career, George is hopeful about retirement. “Friends tell me there is ‘life after work.’ A good Eagle Scout tries to leave the campsite better than he found it,” he said. “I plan to remain active in a number of civic, historic preservation and genealogical organizations. I hope to have more time to spend with my family and friends and to travel while continuing lifelong learning.”

Please join us in thanking George for his service, congratulating him on his retirement, and wishing him well in his future endeavors. We look forward to continuing to serve all of the clients of our firm, and invite you to contact our team if you have any questions.

More often than not, however, what the insurance company pays for is a PI to watch an injured worker over several days with no abnormal activity whatsoever being videotaped. In fact, PIs will often take a series of innocuous normal activities and produce a “highlight reel” to make it seem the injured worker is more active than they really are in real time. They don’t like to admit the total time it took (often multiple days) to put together such a video, the rest inside it took the injured worker to recover from the activities, the amount of pain medication they were taking at the time of the activities or the fact that many doctors encourage their clients to be as active as possible as tolerated by pain. As long as injured workers are not engaging in activities in excess of their medical restrictions, things should be fine.

Just be mindful of what you are doing and how it might look to someone else who is looking to cut off your benefits. Be familiar with trespassing laws and look out for strange vehicles in the neighborhood, strange phone calls asking for information about your whereabouts and strangers asking your neighbors for information about you. If you ever fear for your safety, call the police immediately. And finally, alert your attorney if you have reason to believe you are under surveillance.

For example, individuals who are severely injured on the job might be eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits, as well as Social Security disability benefits. While there is often an offset between the two programs, it is still advisable for some of our clients to pursue both types of benefits. More specifically, if the medical records generated in connection with the workers’ compensation claim also support the fact that the injured worker is not capable of earning wages in any competitive employment for a period of 12 months or longer, the individual should apply for Social Security disability benefits while also receiving wage loss benefits from the workers’ compensation carrier. While the law will not normally allow full recovery from both benefit programs, some additional monetary benefits are usually available, as well as access to either Medicaid or Medicare. If an injured worker’s medical condition is so severe that they are unable to return to their employment, they may well have lost their access to health insurance. Having access to Medicare for such an individual, and for his or her children, is obviously critically important to cover non-work injury medical treatment.

Other disability benefit programs may include short and/or long term disability plans through the employer. Although most of these plans do not cover cover work-related injuries, these programs can be important if the work-related injury is denied by the worker’s compensation carrier. To the extent workers’ compensation payments are ever made, and if the employer paid the premiums for the short-term or long-term disability benefits, the employer may well receive a credit against the amount of back due worker’s compensation benefits owed the injured worker. To the extent this individual’s also approved for Social Security disability, the short and long-term disability benefit carrier will likely be seeking a repayment of benefits paid prior to the Social Security disability award.

Some local government employees are entitled to disability retirement benefits. City and county workers should stay in close contact with their Human Resources department to see whether or not they may be eligible these benefits, in addition to workers compensation benefits and others.

To the extent an injured worker was injured due to the fault of a third party while working, they are allowed to pursue a “third party” claim against the tortfeasor causing the injury. While the law does try to prevent double recoveries in these instances, these kinds of cases should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for any applicable exceptions. Needless to say, if such an individual is injured severely enough, they would also be eligible to file for Social Security disability.

***This post is not intended to be an exhaustive review of all benefits available or of the way they all interact with each other, but rather to give the reader enough information such that they can can be aware and ask the experts they choose to consult whether there are other ways to maximize the total recovery following a workplace accident or diagnosis of a severe illness.

• There’s going to be a long wait to get to a live hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Based on current statistics, there is an approximate 16 month wait to get to hearing AFTER your case has been reviewed and denied at the lower two levels of review (Initial and Reconsideration). The lower two levels of review typically take 8 months to navigate after you file the initial application. The ALJ is free to make a fully independent decision in your case.
• Social Security hearings generally last about an hour, but may be a little shorter or longer depending on the issues involved.
• The system does not allow you to manipulate which judges are assigned to your case.
• The hearing does not take place in a large courtroom. In fact, it takes place in a small, private courtroom room, with barely enough space for the judge, the court reporter, a medical or vocational expert, you and your lawyer.
• Barring unusual circumstances, you will be required to testify, under oath or affirmation, at the hearing. You may ask the judge to allow another witness to testify as well if that person has some special knowledge or insight into your particular case (ie, spouse, physician, pastor, former employer).
• If your medical or mental health condition requires that you stand up during the hearing, you may do so with the permission of the judge.
• The hearing is recorded. Please speak loudly enough to be heard and remember to limit any non-verbal communications (head nodding, pointing to body parts, etc.) as they will not show up in the transcript.
• The medical or vocational expert at the hearing has been asked to be there by the ALJ. They are impartial witnesses that answer questions about the existence of medical conditions, the severity of the symptoms, the availability of jobs and other matters. You or your representative may ask questions of them after the ALJ. They are not present in every hearing.
• It’s OK if you become emotional during the hearing. You have waited a long time to have your case heard. Sensitive, life altering topics are frequently discussed at the hearing. ALJ’s understand these facts and will typically allow a brief break if needed.
• The decision in your case will most likely not be given at the hearing. You will usually receive a written decision within 6 to 8 weeks after the hearing date.

If you would like to learn more, or if you need help with securing your Social Security disability case, contact our attorneys today!

“The reports indicate that the impersonator calls from a telephone number with a 323 area code. The caller claims to be an SSA employee, and in some instances, tells the victim that they are due a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase of their Social Security benefits. The impersonator goes on to ask the victim to verify all of their personal information including their name, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), parents’ names, etc. to receive the increase. If the impersonator is successful in acquiring this information, they use it to contact SSA and request changes to the victim’s direct deposit, address, and telephone information.

SSA employees occasionally contact citizens by telephone for customer-service purposes, but they will not request sensitive personal information from a citizen over the phone. If a person receives a similar suspicious call from someone alleging to be from SSA, citizens may report that information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.gov/report.”

Go here to see the full alert from the OIG: https://oig.ssa.gov/newsroom/news-releases/july19-advisory

Or maybe you were released from the hospital after a major back surgery with a prescription from your surgeon for temporary home health services because you live alone and need some help with personal needs. But the care never shows up. When you call the doctor’s office to find out what is going on, his assistant tells you he changed his mind. How can this be?

Communication with Your Physician

Unfortunately, you have probably had someone from your employer and/or the insurance company communicate with your doctor outside of your presence, ultimately resulting in cost savings to them. The worst part of it is that you probably consented to this communication at the very beginning of the claim when you signed the release they sent you that allows this type of behavior. Other times injured workers will allow “consulting physicians” from the insurance company to speak with their doctor about the care being provided, or before certain types of care are authorized, the insurance company will insist their “peer review professionals’ speak to the treating physician. These communications are often nothing more than thinly disguised brow-beatings and bullying of the treating physicians to find less expensive medical care, regardless of treatment efficacy. Sometimes, it is the nurse assigned to your case that seems to be more interested in saving the insurance company money than getting you better.

Are Defendants Allowed to Speak to Your Physician Without You?

Know the rules. The general rule is that defendants are not allowed to speak with your treating physician outside of your presence absent certain circumstances. N.C. Gen. Stat. §97-25.6 provides exceptions to this rule and governs when the defendants are allowed to communicate with providers and under what protective circumstances. Likewise, the NC Industrial Commission Rehab Rules set forth the few exceptions when nurse case managers can speak with your physician outside of your presence. Make sure you are aware of these exceptions!

Also, it’s fine to be cooperative with the insurance company by signing their release while they investigate your claim, just mark out any language allowing them to speak directly with your doctor outside of your presence. These rules are in place to encourage transparency and there is nothing wrong with insisting on this while your claim is being investigated or when the defendants require additional information from your doctor.

Faces and Facts of Disability

In workers’ compensation cases, assuming NC has jurisdiction over your claim: injury occurred here, employer’s principal place of business is here, if the employee’s principal place of business is here or if the employment contract was finalized here, we can represent you! In fact, we represent many clients that either met one of the conditions noted above and continue to live out of state, or have moved out of state after their NC injury. Sometimes, even if another state has jurisdiction over your claim in conjunction with NC, we can still represent you in the NC claim and help you decide which jurisdiction offers better benefits. Often, NC offers better benefits than other states.

Whether in another state, or just in another region of NC, if your claim goes to trial, there is strong likelihood some of the litigation will take place right in our own backyard in Raleigh. We are conveniently located near the NC Industrial Commission, which hears all workers’ compensation disputes, as well as near the NC Court of Appeals and NC Supreme Court.

In Social Security disability claims, our area of practice narrows to Eastern NC, where we are most familiar with the hearing offices and judges. We regularly try disability cases in Raleigh, Fayetteville, New Bern, Wilmington and other local hearing sites.

Just give us a call. If we agree our involvement in your case is a good idea, we will put a New Client Package in the mail to you right away! With the assistance of telephones, email and other technology, there is virtually no difference in the level of representation you receive whether you live in Raleigh or not. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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