Every Single Mile Counts for You!

Workers' Comp law requires you to be paid for nearly ALL travel related to your comp claim.  This can include more than just trips to your doctor.  There's even help if you can't get your own ride.  We can't help you if you don't call.  See what the Workers' Comp Group can do for you.  The call is free and there's NEVER any out of pocket expense when we go to work for you.

Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission Welcomes New Commissioner

Attorney Debra Hendricks Gibbs was recently nominated to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Leon Collins who retired this past summer.  Commissioner Gibbs brings to the position several years of legal experience as well as having previously directed the accounting and finance office for the State Department of Human Services.

Welcome Commissioner Gibbs.

Attention Truckers!!

Some trucking companies force you to use Mississippi Workers’ Comp regardless of where you live.   Trucking companies such as KLLM Trucking and Knight Transport are often forcing injured truckers to go through the Mississippi Workers’ Comp system no matter where they live, where they were injured, or where they start their haul.  Our firm has helped many truckers navigate the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation system to get the best possible results.  We help truckers all over the country and make the process as easy as possible often times with the injured trucker never having to even make a trip to Mississippi while also being able to see Doctors in their own hometown.

Call The Workers’ Comp Group and let us answer your questions about your injury.  We spend everyday protecting the rights of truckers all over America

Court Gets a New Look at the Role of Job Searches and Work History in Scheduled Member Cases

The importance of job searches and inability to return to usual employment in scheduled member cases was recently discussed in Cole v. Ellisville State School, No. 2009-WC-01768-COA.  In the Cole case an injured worker hurt her knee and was unable to return to her job because she could not meet the required physical demands.  The Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by the full Commission that cut in half the total loss of industrial use of the scheduled member assigned by the Administrative Law Judge.  The main issue was the failure of Cole to seek other employment after her injury.  A clear distinction was drawn between loss of wage earning capacity as a function of a permanent-total disability cases that can also arise from a scheduled member case versus a permanent partial disability/loss of industrial use claim which was the main focus of this appeal.  While Cole could have potentially argued for a degree of permanent and total disability, which would have required that she show that she tried to find other employment without success, she instead proceeded with a loss of industrial use argument.

What is interesting in this opinion is that the Court looked at a broader view of usual type of employment that not only focuses on the job the worker was performing when they were injured but other jobs the worker has performed in the past to determine if a total loss has occurred.  Unlike previous cases, Cole's work history had focused on only a few jobs which were similar in their physical demands.  The key phrase "unable to perform the substantial acts of her usual employment" pops up over and over again.  Injured workers can walk away from this decision with a clearer view of loss of industrial use cases in that the focus is not job searches, which still might be helpful, but instead medical evidence that they cannot do the same type of work as well as a showing that they are also unable to perform jobs in which they have performed in the past.  This particular point is highlighted in the distinguishing of Cole and Meridian Professional Baseball Club v. Jensen.  828 So. 2d 740 (Miss. 2002).  Overall, claimants now have a better picture for how to proceed with their comp case when they hear the devastating news from their treating physician that they cannot return to their job because their injury prevents them from performing the necessary physical requirements.

Being Hurt Stinks.

Give us a call.  We'll take a look at your situation and point you in the right direction.