I AM
Jared hawkins
And this is a blog dedicated to Mississippi Workers' Compensation
My apologies for missing the last blog as I was in a fight for my life (well, sort of). As a kid, and even through my teenage years, I never got sick. Ever. Even when I first began working, I would make fun of the other attorneys I worked with for getting sick so often. Did they not wash their hands? Were they not drinking enough water and eating healthy? How about mixing in a sit-up or jog a lap on occasion, right....?
No, no, no. I was wrong. I failed to consider that they had kids. Now that I have two small kids, in day care, no less, I catch it all. I can guess whatever sickness is going through either of their classrooms based on how I feel each morning. I formally owe those people I used to poor-mouth an open apology. Karma is now haunting me day by day.
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On Sunday, my family will not only be celebrating Mother’s Day with my beautiful wife, but we will also be sharing that day with my little girl’s first birthday. In fact, this past weekend, we had a photographer take pictures for her first birthday. Needless to say, she is quite photogenic. She clearly did not get that from me.
Charlotte, or sissy girl (I am not exactly sure where that nickname came from), is almost one now, and she is beginning to walk. The addition of shoes to her wardrobe has quickly picked up the pace of her abilities. In saying that, do not expect her to sign up for any races anytime soon. She stumbles around our house now like a newborn giraffe, hitting her head on everything in sight. Between the bruises and knots, it’s a wonder she has not been concussed yet. I would describe her walking abilities at this point to be similar to those of Otis from The Andy Griffith Show, as follows: My apologies to everyone for missing last week. As many of you know, the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Educational Association held its annual conference last week from April 19-21 in Biloxi, MS. This three day event is held annually and serves several purposes. There are speakers who present on a variety of topics and you are able to receive your continuing educational hours (if needed), while also having the opportunity to meet with those you work with in a much more casual atmosphere.
The conference for me started with a round of golf at one of the nicest, if not the nicest, course in MS, Fallen Oak. I was paired with Bryan Bridges, Andrew Burkes, John Stomps and riders Barbie Correll and Josh Heffinger. We did not technically “win” according to the rules of “golf”, but we had the most fun. As a workers’ compensation attorney, one of the topics that has aided in my follicle impairment is a Medicare Set-Aside (MSA). When do we need an MSA? When does Medicare need to approve of our MSA? What if Medicare changes the amount of our MSA? If you work in the business, these are questions you have certainly asked yourself at one time or another.
Before getting too far into the weeds of an MSA, the first topic we need to discuss is what exactly an MSA is. It is simply a projection of anticipated medical needs for an injured claimant for purposes of protecting Medicare’s interests. In essence, Medicare does not want to pay for medical treatment for an injured claimant that the workers’ compensation insurance company should be paying for. We hire third party vendors to prepare these MSA’s for us which try to accurately predict the amount of medical treatment needed throughout an injured employee’s life and pay that amount to the injured employee so that Medicare is not stuck holding a bill for medical treatment for those services rendered. After graduating from Mississippi College School of Law in December, 2010, I took the Mississippi Bar in February, 2011. The results were posted in late April and every applicant was assigned a number for identification purposes rather than their actual name. I was happy that was the case, as my confidence was shot after testing for three days on every topic covered in law school, and then some.
I had not started applying for jobs just yet, as the thought of taking a job and failing the Bar Exam gave me night terrors. On the day the scores were finally revealed, I vividly recall covering the right side of my screen with my right hand and first searching for my number on the left side of the screen. Once it was located, I methodically slid my right index finger to the right which revealed a “P”, and then the entire word “Pass”. I audibly screamed and celebrated that night with my other friends who had done the same. Weeks later, I would apply and accept a job at Markow Walker, P.A. For those unfamiliar with our Firm, we are a general defense firm, but many of our attorneys practice exclusively in the area of workers’ compensation, myself included. This week, we are taking a look at the “found dead presumption” upon special request. I always encourage readers to reach out to me if you have a specific topic that needs to be addressed. This specific client insisted that I “write about the presumption of death statute. I think it is total BS.” As I have always said, I’m not here to make the rules, just to understand them and help explain them to you.
The statute defining “injury” reads in relevant part: “an untoward event or events shall not be presumed to have arisen out of and in the course of employment, except in the case of an employee found dead in the course of employment.” Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-3(b). From a defense standpoint, nothing brings about a Grinch-like smile on the face of your defense counsel quite like a potential statute of limitations defense. By definition, statutes of limitations are laws passed which set forth a maximum time after an event occurs within which legal proceedings may be initiated.
In Mississippi, as it relates to workers’ compensation claim, there are only two potentials for a statute of limitations defense. We have a one year and a two-year statute of limitations. For purposes of this blog entry, we will be tackling the one year statute of limitations defense. This is more common than the two-year statute of limitations, but is also much more convoluted. For this week’s article, I am bringing in my first guest blogger. My larger-than-life friend, James Swanner, offered to assist as needed when he found out I had entered the blogosphere. Even though I am only producing my third article this week, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by another week.
James worked his way from a claims adjuster, claims supervisor, then a claims manager, and not having reached his 40th birthday yet, is now the VP of Claims at AmFed National Insurance Company, which is one of the largest and most well-respected insurance companies in Mississippi. After you read his article about how to handle claims, how to really handle claims, you’ll quickly see how he has risen in the ranks at such a meteoric rate with some insight as to how you can better manage your claims. Now that we are past our introductions, I really want to dive into a topic that is near and dear to my heart this week. If the title didn’t give it away, I’m “back”. I am both back with another blog and talking about back injuries, or at least injuries to the body as a whole. That’s what is known as a pun. Pretty funny right? Not only do you get legal advice here, but you get a real gut busting joke to start your day. I like to call that a twofer.
Enough about how funny I am. Let’s dig into what you are really here for. Since I will be speaking at our Firm’s upcoming seminar on body as a whole injuries, I thought I would give you a little taste of what is to come. If you are reading this blog, then we are already further along than I ever envisioned. What’s the old saying about old dogs and new tricks? I think the parallel here would be attorneys making websites from scratch and “blogging”, whatever that is.
As a brief introduction, I am a defense attorney with Markow Walker in Ridgeland, MS. I solely practice defense work, exclusively MS workers’ compensation. My firm has offices in Ridgeland, Oxford and Ocean Springs, and many of our lawyers also exclusively represent employers and carriers in workers’ compensation claims. The question you may be asking yourself is: Who needs an attorney with respect to workers’ compensation claims? |
Jared HawkinsAttorney with Markow Walker in Ridgeland, MS Archives
April 2021
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