The monthly meeting of the workers’ compensation attorneys who represent injured workers was named the Workers Comp Working Group by the Nevada Justice Association with the presentation of a plaque. It was given to attorneys from the group who attended the annual NJA conference this past weekend in Long Beach California.
JP Kemp, Jason Mills, Herb Santos, and Craig Kidwell were attendees at the conference. They reported that the personal injury attorneys who make up the majority of the NJA membership had a new-found respect for the hard work of the group during the last legislative session. That session was a nail-hitter to the end when the tide could have turned into an ugly tsunami drowning the rights of injured workers. Selfless claimants’ attorneys from the Working Group did a great job during the last legislative session, with sharks circling and snapping at issues like adoption of the Sixth Edition of the AMA Guides.
The Workers Comp Working Group is an apt name for the group established by Billie-Marie Morrison, Esq., of Craig Kenny & Associates about four years ago. Most of the Group’s attorneys are also members of the NJA. However, the Working Group has no formal officers, and welcomes any claimant’s attorneys willing to provide a real contribution to improving the lives of injured workers and educating workers’ comp attorneys. It is really quite amazing that these injured workers’ attorneys, who must compete with each other to obtain new clients, are so willing to share information and practice advice with each other.
While defense attorneys don’t qualify as members of the Working Group, those with opposing views on legislation, claims processing, and other work comp issues are welcome as guest speakers. Please contact Billie-Marrie Morrison, Esq., if you are interested in speaking at a group meeting. A guest speaker is usually featured at each meeting. Only attorneys who have been identified as representing injured workers may join the list serve.
Meanwhile, Working Group attorneys, Billie-Marrie and I, attended the national workers’ compensation attorney conference in Chicago this prior weekend. We discussed issues with top workers’ comp attorneys from other states. Other states are grappling with the same problems facing Nevada injured workers, such as good medical care, access to the justice system, the amount of compensation benefits, and each state’s desire to attract small businesses by keeping comp premiums down. One of the more interesting seminars I attended at this conference was on the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care). Expect your Working Group attorneys to send valuable information on how to get medical care insurance for general medical care later this month, courtesy of a fellow WILG attorney.
I filed a district court Petition for Judicial Review on the DIR’s denial of my request that the present value chart for PPD’s be amended. Although the DIR’s director wrote me a letter stating that he was hiring an outside actuary to review the law, DIR did deny my request as ‘premature’, even though DIR admits to being 15 years late on updating the present value table. I’ll write him another letter asking him why he denied my request if he’s actually doing as I requested. Sounds like a waste of time that could be spent on correcting the problem I brought to his attention. I’ve invited DIR administrative director Steve George to meet with the Workers’ Comp Injury Group, and I sincerely hope he will accept our invitation so that we can better understand what this new head of the agency has planned.
