Ganly & Ramer, lawyers in Asheville, NC, North Carolina

"Substantial Gainful Activity" for Social Security Disability Determination

To be declared "disabled" for social security disability purposes, the individual must not be able to engage in any substantial gainful activity. "Substantial gainful activity" is a term of art used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to mean doing significant physical or mental activity for pay or profit. An individual's work can still be substantial even though it is engaged in less than full-time. The SSA does not normally consider activities such as household chores, hobbies, school attendance, or participation in social programs or clubs to be substantial gainful activity.More...

Uninsured Motorist Insurance, No-Fault Insurance

and Workers' Compensation)More...

Workers' Compensation Award Credit for Actual Earnings

In some instances, an injured employee will return to his former position and resume making the same earnings as before the injury. When such an individual has received a workers' compensation benefit, the question arises whether the employer is entitled to a credit on the amount of benefits that were paid to the employee. If the employer paid the employee's wages, intending such wages to take the place of any benefit compensation, then the employer would be entitled to a credit. However, there is rarely direct evidence of the employer's intention in this regard.More...

Proper Party to a Third Party Action

When an employer or its carrier (collectively "employer") pays workers' compensation for an employee's injury arising out of his employment but through the fault of a third party, the employer may step into the shoes of the employee as his "subrogee." When the action against the third party is completely subrogated to the employer, the only essential plaintiff to the action is the employer. This means, only the party who has been substituted for the employee is required to maintain the action against the third party and recover damages. The employee does not have to be a part of the action for it to remain viable.More...

Statutory Defense of Wilful Misconduct

Approximately one-third of the states include the defense of "wilful misconduct" in their respective workers' compensation statutes. Under this defense, employers' will claim that the employee is ineligible to receive, or is only entitled to a reduced amount of, workers' compensation benefits because his deliberate action in, for example, violating a safety rule or committing an aggravated assault, is what caused his injury. More...