North Carolina attorney Mike McKay has joined the Industrial Commission as the Director of Claims Administration, one of the integral parts of the Commission. Mr. McKay is a Board Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law by the North Carolina State Bar Board...
Helping Make The Law Make Sense
Firm News
Deputy Commissioners Robert Harris, Lori Gaines, and Jesse “Jay” Tillman Reappointed at the Industrial Commission for Second Terms
The North Carolina Industrial Commission has reappointed Robert Harris, Lori Gaines, and Jay Tillman to second terms as deputy commissioners. Deputy Commissioners are the equivalent of "judges" in workers' compensation claims and State Tort Claims actions tried...
The North Carolina Legislature Confirms Lawyer Adrian A. Phillips as a Commissioner of the Industrial Commission
On June 3, 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly confirmed attorney Adrian A. Phillips as the next Commissioner at the North Carolina Industrial Commission. The Industrial Commission is the State agency that oversees all State workers' compensation claims and...
Changes to the Form 53 by the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission
On June 22, 2021, the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission revised language on the Form 53 to match it to changes made on the Form 52 on April 20, 2021. These changes clarify which Social Security numbers are for the deceased employee and for the...
Workers’ Comp Appellate Case Law Review at NCAJ’s Virtual Convention 2021
Vernon Sumwalt will help to teach the workers’ compensation appellate case law review at the North Carolina Advocates for Justice’s Virtual Convention on June 10, 2021. Jay Gervasi will be the other teacher for the CLE program, which will focus on appellate court...
26th Annual Workers’ Compensation Roundtable (North Carolina Advocates for Justice’s Workers’ Comp Section)
Vernon Sumwalt will teach “Legal and Evidentiary Standards of Disability” at the NCAJ’s 26th Annual Workers’ Compensation Roundtable, a virtual continuing legal education course for workers’ comp lawyers who represent injured workers in North Carolina, on April 9,...
“Former Charlotte Police Officer Says Riots Gave Him PTSD” (WCNC News Report 2/22/2021)
The bravery of lawyers going to trial is nothing compared to the bravery of our clients whose lives they ask us to share with the world. Chad, a veteran police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina, entrusted The Sumwalt Group to challenge a denial of his workers'...
Vernon Sumwalt Selected For Best Lawyers In America
The Sumwalt Group Workers’ Compensation and Trial Lawyers is pleased to announce that Vernon Sumwalt has been included in the 2021 Edition of the Best Lawyers in America in the field of Workers’ Compensation Law–Claimants. Lawyers included in The Best Lawyers in...
Will COVID-19 Make Workers Compensation and Personal Injury Cases Less Expensive?
The bottom line. We all care about it. Prosecuting workers’ compensation and personal injury claims comes with a cost. The cost it takes to try a case, the cost of appeals, the cost of getting and storing medical records and other papers necessary to move cases...
The Sumwalt Group Wins State Supreme Court Case
On August 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of North Carolina filed its decision in Walker v. K&W Cafeterias, Inc. (No. 99PA19-1), which eliminated a North Carolina workers’ compensation lien from the settlement of a South Carolina Wrongful Death lawsuit. North Carolina...