Wise Carter Child & Caraway, P.A.

Workers’ Compensation Legal Services

Wise Carter has developed an extensive practice representing self-insured employers and workers’ compensation carriers in all areas of workers’ compensation.

Court Services

Our practice includes appearances before administrative judges at evidentiary hearings and continuing representation through the appeal process from the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission to Circuit Court, the Mississippi Court of Appeals and the Mississippi Supreme Court.

In addition, the Firm routinely advises self-insured employers and workers’ compensation carriers on issues and problems arising daily in administering workers’ compensation claims. The Firm is experienced in representing employers and groups of employers applying for self-insured status with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission.

It is important for employers and carriers to evaluate workers’ compensation claims early and develop a long-range strategy for resolution.

Assistance With Settlements

As part of our workers’ compensation practice, we often assist our clients with settlements involving complicated Medicare Set Aside trusts and negotiating with Medicare and Medicaid when those agencies seek reimbursement for conditional payments.

Representation Before the MWCC

We provide help with regulatory issues/matters before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission (MWCC). We represent both of the Guaranty Associations as general counsel, and we have extensive knowledge of the Guaranty Association Laws and the Commission’s rules and regulations relating to self-insurers.

Consultation

We also help employers develop and implement workers’ compensation policies and related policies. Examples include:

Post-accident drug testing
Return to Work programs
Reporting and investigating work-related injuries

Bad Faith Actions

We can assist in defense of bad faith actions, and Andy Sweat has served as an expert in many workers’ compensation bad faith cases.

Coverage Opinions

We can provide coverage opinions on workers’ compensation issues. Virginia Gautier provides such coverage opinions on a regular basis.

Our Approach to Workers’ Compensation

We approach workers’ compensation matters with the goal of helping manage risks and control costs. Because Mississippi allows for lifetime medical care, workers’ compensation claims can be very costly for employers and carriers.

We think it is important for employers and carriers to evaluate claims early and develop a long-range strategy for resolution. We have developed strong working relationships with the Commission, and we understand how the Administrative Law Judges and Commissioners approach claims and regulatory issues. Therefore, we are able to help clients make sound decisions about how to best manage claims. We also have good working relationships with the claimants’ bar in the workers’ compensation context.

Our Experience

Andy Sweat and Virginia Gautier have many years’ of experience in Workers’ Compensation and understand the trends in Mississippi’s Workers’ Compensation law.

Wise Carter’s Workers’ Compensation group works primarily with:

Self-insureds, both group and individual
Healthcare entities and hospitals
Industrial manufacturing
ERs with Regional/National presence

We are experienced and respected in the workers’ compensation context. We can help employers manage/control workers’ compensation risks. We can help employers and carriers identify the best strategies for the best outcomes. We also understand how workers’ compensation issues fit into other employment law issues that employers often must navigate in situations involving injured workers, such as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations.

We are able to offer a full-range of workers’ compensation services to our clients—services that go beyond defending litigated workers’ claims and that allow clients to minimize the risk of controverted/disputed workers’ compensation claims, create programs that get injured workers back to work, and establish a workplace culture of safety in order to reduce the number of injuries.