Item: Dodge Jones Injury Law Firm
Rating: 5
Author: Meghan H.

We Represent People Hurt at Work and in Car Accidents

We’re on the side of the individual, the worker, and the wrongfully injured, and NOT the gigantic insurance lobby and their stockholders.

And we’re not afraid to stick up for you in court, taking on people who profit from your injuries, your losses, and your personal injury damages.

In any legal negotiation or dispute, you’ve got to be willing to say, “We’ll see you in court.” That’s what our North Carolina workers' compensation lawyers do.

Workers' Compensation

Hurt on the job (workplace injury) and are curious about your rights as an injured employee? Your case deserves an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer.

Call Kevin Jones, a Board Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law.

No one expects to find themselves in the position of having suffered serious injuries in an on the job accident, and yet it happens all too often throughout eastern North Carolina.

With so many issues on the line for you as well as your family in the future, you need dedicated representation as soon as possible.

What Is Workers’ Compensation?

Workers' compensation is a form of insurance that provides benefits to employees who suffer job-related injuries or illnesses. In North Carolina (including Greenville), most employers with three or more employees are required to carry this insurance. Workers’ comp covers medical treatment and a portion of lost wages for injured workers without the need to prove anyone was at fault. It is a “no-fault” system, meaning you do not have to show your employer was negligent to receive benefits. In exchange, employees typically cannot sue their employer for work injuries outside the workers’ comp system.

What Types of Injuries or Illnesses Are Covered by Workers’ Comp?

Workers’ comp in NC covers a wide range of work-related injuries and occupational diseases. To be covered, the injury or illness must “arise out of and in the course of employment,” meaning it happened while doing your job or because of job conditions. Covered injuries and illnesses include:

Traumatic injuries: sudden accidents like falls, equipment accidents, or being struck by objects (e.g. broken bones, cuts, burns).
Repetitive stress injuries: conditions that develop over time from repetitive motions or strain, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tendonitis.
Occupational diseases: illnesses from workplace exposures (for example, lung disease from inhaling toxic fumes, hearing loss from loud noise, certain work-related cancers).
Aggravation of pre-existing conditions: if work activities significantly worsen an existing health problem, that aggravation can be covered as a new compensable injury.
Work-related mental health conditions: in some cases, serious psychological conditions like PTSD or anxiety may be covered if they result directly from a workplace trauma or extreme work conditions.

Basically, any injury or illness caused or made worse by your job could be covered. However, not every incident that happens at work is covered – for example, injuries during purely voluntary, recreational activities (like playing in a company sports game on your day off) might not qualify. Also, injuries due to employee misconduct (intoxication, fighting, etc.) can be excluded by law (though these scenarios are less common). If in doubt, report the injury and ask – many situations, even gradual injuries, can be covered under NC law.

Does It Matter Who Was at Fault for My Injury?

No. Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system, so you can receive benefits regardless of who caused the accident – even if it was due to your own mistake or a co-worker’s error. You do not need to prove your employer did anything wrong. In fact, fault generally isn’t considered at all in granting workers’ comp benefits. The trade-off is that, in most cases, you cannot sue your employer for negligence for a work injury; workers’ comp benefits are typically your exclusive remedy (unless a third party’s fault was involved, in which case you might have a separate claim against that third party). The no-fault setup is meant to ensure injured workers get some compensation quickly without a legal battle over blame.

What Benefits Does Workers’ Comp Provide?

Workers’ compensation pays for several types of benefits to help injured workers, including: 100% of necessary medical expenses, partial wage replacement payments, and disability benefits for permanent injuries. If a work injury tragically causes a worker’s death, workers’ comp also provides death benefits to the worker’s dependents for lost financial support, as well as funeral expenses.

Types of Workplace Injuries

It's technically called Workers’ Compensation in North Carolina.

But a lot of people still call it some variation of that theme, such as: Workmans Compensation, Work Comp, and Workmens Compensation.

It doesn’t much matter to us what you call it, if you were hurt at work or suffered an on the job injury in North Carolina, we want to be your Workers Compensation lawyer.

“Work Comp” cases in North Carolina are as different as the people who are hurt at work. The type of workplace injury often relates to the workplace itself.

North Carolina has a specific “Act” that directs the presentation of legal claims for on the job injuries.

Chapter 97 of the North Carolina General Statutes formally entitled the Workers’ Compensation Act.

Our North Carolina workers' compensation attorneys have substantial experience handling legal matters that involve:

Slip and Fall
Muscle Strains
Moving and Falling Objects
Fire and Explosions
Repetitive Stress Injuries
Crashes and Collisions
Cuts and Lacerations
Inhaling Toxic Fumes
Loud Noises
Walking into Objects

Types of Workers’ Compensation Benefits

The North Carolina Worker Compensation Law allows for things like death benefits, disability benefits, medical coverage, treatment, rehabilitation, permanent injury, loss of limb, incapacity, prescriptions and physical therapy.

Sometimes those may include a designation of “permanent partial disability,” requiring a reasonable accommodation at work. Other times the workplace accident is severe, requiring a temporary disability.

And in the worst-case scenario, some employees are entitled to full time disability or permanent total disability. Each case is different.

Who Is Eligible for Workers’ Comp Benefits in North Carolina?

Nearly all employees in NC are covered if their employer has the required insurance. This includes full-time, part-time, and temporary workers – even minors and undocumented workers are covered. However, certain categories of workers are not covered under the NC workers’ comp system, such as most independent contractors, domestic workers, casual employees, some farm laborers, and federal employees (who have a separate federal compensation system). Most employers with ≥3 employees must have workers’ comp, so if you’re on a company payroll, you likely qualify. Even if you are labeled an “independent contractor,” you might be deemed an employee for workers’ comp if the work situation meets certain legal criteria of employment.

Medical Care

The type of treatment or medical care necessary after an accident depends on the nature of the injury.

Recovery for medical care may include reimbursement for the Emergency Room, EMT services, transport, and medical bills involved with a trip to the hospital.

Legal matters involving serious trauma from a fall, automobile accident, or wreck may necessitate surgery, anesthesia, ICU Intensive Care and step-down, aftercare, physical therapy, appliances, and occupational therapy.

Personal Injury

Our firm also has substantial experience helping people with “accident cases.” Personal Injury lawyers may prefer to call them “claims for negligence.”

North Carolina is a “contributory negligence” state, which means the presentation of claims is subject to defenses regarding liability.

The tortfeasor is the person who caused the wreck and was negligent in the operation of the vehicle.

We provide legal representation in matters involving:

Car Accidents
Truck Accidents
Motorcycle Accidents
Boating Accidents

If You Don’t Win, We Don’t Get Paid

That’s right. Legal fees depend upon our ability to achieve a settlement or recovery. Our law firm charges only a Contingency Fee.

We never charge hourly rates or require consultation fees. It costs nothing to call us, to sit down and talk, and to get legal advice. In fact, it’s entirely free. It’s also confidential.

If you don’t get compensation for your injuries and damages, we don’t get legal fees. That means it makes sense for us to work hard.

We want you to win. We want you to get what you deserve. And we want the big insurance companies to pay up, consistent with the NC insurance laws.

We want nothing more than what’s fair, what’s right, and what’s just. We have your best interests at heart and we’ll look out for your legal rights.

Free Consultations – We Keep Secrets

We’re not going to pressure you to retain our firm or our legal services. We understand there are times you may not be certain about what you want to do.

It’s OK if you want to consider your legal rights and weigh your options.

That’s entirely normal in Workmans Compensation cases. It’s understandable you might be concerned about your job and what happens if you make a Work Comp claim in North Carolina.

Call now to get answers to your important questions. Our North Carolina workers' compensation lawyers will help you through the entire legal process, from making a claim for damages, to settlement negotiations, and filing suit or important documentation to preserve your legal interests.

Have You Been Injured in a Serious Accident?

Accidents are the most common cause of personal injury, and the outcome of this accident can be extremely difficult. If you have been injured in a car accident, call us today!

Don’t wait till it’s too late. Call our Personal Injury Lawyers now.

Compassionate, Results Driven, Local NC Lawyers

We’re from here. We’re local. We’re dedicated to everyday people in coastal North Carolina in New Bern, Morehead City, Jacksonville, Greenville, and Beaufort NC.

We believe in the Rule of Law, including holding people accountable for their negligence. If you’ve been harmed (and hurt) because someone didn’t want to follow the rules, we provide results-oriented legal help.

Our law firm has a substantial track history of helping injured people. This more than a job to us. It’s a lifelong passion.

Helping clients hurt on the job or injured as the result of drunk driving and negligence in NC is what we do. We’re dedicated to sound legal advice, compassionate legal representation, dedication to detail, and fearless courtroom advocacy.

While we don’t look for fights, we’re not afraid of them. We’ll put our decades of experience, our training, our competitive nature, and our overwhelming desire to help to work on your case.

Wrongful Death Claims in NC

If you’ve lost a loved one, please accept our most sincere condolences. We’re sorry for your loss. We understand how hard it may be for you to even consider legal options. We’re here to help with empathy, compassion, and understanding.

Nothing will ever completely make up for your loss. But that doesn’t mean the at fault party and their insurance company should walk away, Scot-free.

There should be consequences for actions. There must be accountability for negligence.

Wrongful death claims don’t focus on retribution or hard feelings. There’s rarely anything mean spirited about it.

Indeed, they are entirely centered on realties of the world: The wrongful death of a loved one has financial consequences. There are bills to be paid. The loss of a lifelong income can ruin a family.

If that happened to you and your family, we’re here to stand up for you. We’ll fight hard for your legal rights. We want you to receive full, fair, and complete compensation for your wrongful death claims in North Carolina.

It’s more than just missing someone you love. There are often overwhelming medical bills, costs for emergency treatment, doctors, hospitals, and even funeral expenses.

We’ll come to you. Don’t accept a quick-settlement from an insurance adjuster, whose sole purpose to save the carrier money and pay you less than you deserve.

Before signing anything, talk to an experienced personal injury lawyer now.

Catastrophic Losses, Negligence Claims, Trauma

Another aspect of accident cases people sometimes forget is this: You may not ever get better. What’s happened to you may last forever.

You may spend the rest of your life seeing doctors, managing pain, and needing special care. That takes money. It’s not inexpensive.

Life care plans often reach millions of dollars, especially for people who have suffered a catastrophic loss due to the negligence of others.

There is also another very harsh reality in Negligence Claims in NC. The insurance companies actively work to burden shift. They don’t want to pay what is right or what’s fair under the NC insurance laws.

They’d rather you go on disability. If it saves them a lifetime of medical bills, they’re more than willing to shift the substantial costs of long-term care to you and me, the taxpayers.

Whether it’s social security or assistance through welfare, Medicaid or Medicare, that’s what happens if there is no insurance, not enough insurance, or the insurance company can figure out how not pay or pay as much as they should.

If you’ve suffered a catastrophic loss, we’re here to help. We’re not going to stand idly by, watching rich insurance companies take advantage of you or your family.

We’ll put our decades of experience to work, dedication our time, training, and hard work to your legal claims. Call now to speak with one of our personal injury lawyers.

We demand fair compensation for negligence and injuries.

If you’ve not been treated fairly by your employer, their insurance company, or the adjuster, it’s time to lawyer up.

If you’re looking for experienced courtroom lawyers and dedicated legal advocates, we’re your law firm. Call now, consultations are free.

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★★★★★

If you are looking for a highly knowledgeable, caring, and virtuous law firm to help you, Dodge Jones is the answer! You can definitely count on them to provide the best quality legal service. They are outstanding! Meghan H.

Highly recommend Dodge Jones to anyone. Joey H.

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Personal Injury and Workers' Compensation Lawyers Serving North Carolina