Document Library

On the page below you can find links to documents, reports, publications and discussions provided by The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, PLLC.

The documents below are available to the public so that they can gain a better understanding of the legal challenges facing them, and why an experienced attorney is so important for success.

Contact us for a consultation today.

• Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect
• Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice
• Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
• Insurance: Unfair Insurance Claim Practices
• General

Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

• Medicare "Bad Nursing Homes" List [PDF]
  

  CMS List of Nursing Homes targeted for high risk pressure ulcer and.or physical restraint improvement

• 2008 Nursing Home Improvement Plan from Medicare [PDF]
  

  Medicare's 2008 plan for improving problems in nursing homes in North Carolina and elsewhere

• Paper: New Opportunities to Imrpove Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Treatment [PDF]
  

  International Expert Wound Care Advisory Panel paper discussing better practices for treatment and prevention of pressure sores/ulcers in the health care setting, including nursing homes.

• 12 Tips for Nursing Home Abuse, Neglect and Wrongful Death (A Free E-Book By Attorney Thomas Pleasant) [PDF]
  

  An e-book by North Carolina nursing home injury and wrongful death attorney Thomas Waitt Pleasant, outlining 12 tips for dealing withe nursing home abuse, neglect and wrongful death situations.

Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice

• Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer: Guidelines from the American Cancer Society [PDF]
  

  See the American Cancer Society's guidelines for the diagnosis of breast cancer. If you or a loved one feels that a doctor misdiagnosed or failed to diagnose breast cancer, causing injury or wrongful death; these guidelines could be of interest. They might not be determinative as to whether you actually have a medical malpractice injury or wrongful death lawsuit; but as a starting point these breast cancer guidelines could be of interest. If you are in North Carolina, whether in Raleigh, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Lumberton, Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, or any other North Carolina city, and you have an issue with breast cancer diagnosis, feel free to contact North Carolina attorney Thomas Waitt Pleasant for a free consultation.

• National Comprehensive Cancer Network Breast Screening Guidelines: Helpful Document For Those Considering Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer Lawsuits [PDF]
  

  For anyone in North Carolina or elsewhere considering hiring a medical malpractice or medical negligence attorney for failure to diagnose breast cancer, these guidelines are useful for determining generally whether the doctor/physician properly handled the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. These guidelines might not be "the law" ultimately; but they are a useful starting point for determining whether cancer screening was properly done, for purposes of determining doctor or physician assistant liability. In order to fully evaluate your medical negligence, malpractice or mistake claim (whether for medical bills and pain & suffering only; or for wrongful death as well), contact North Carolina medical negligence lawyer Thomas Pleasant.

• Case Point Memo: Statutes of Limitations in Medical Negligence Cases [PDF]
  

  If you have a claim against a doctor, nurse or hospital in North Carolina, be careful about the deadlines that apply for bringing suit. They are short, and tricky. Generally, medical malpractice suits must be brought within three years from the date of the last act of the defendant giving rise to the cause of action; or within one year of the date when the injury was or should have been discovered, but not more than four years from the date of the last act of defendant giving rise to the cause of action. N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 1-15 and 1-52(16) (1996). Foreign object cases must be brought within one year from the date of discovery, but no longer than ten years from the date of the occurrence. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-15 (1996). Wrongful death actions based on alleged medical malpractice must be brought within the foregoing period or within two years from death, whichever is shorter. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-53 (1996).
  You should not try to determine limitations periods on your own, as there are complicated exceptions to the general rules, and each case is unique. If you or someone you love has been hurt or killed by the mistake of a doctor, nurse or hospital, you should contact a North Carolina attorney or lawyer who handles medical negligence claims. North Carolina lawyer Thomas Pleasant is available to discuss your case free of charge, and have office locations in Wilmington, Raleigh and Fayetteville; and in many cases will travel to you if travel is difficult for you.

• NC Medical Malpractice Summary: No Lawsuit Crisis Indicated [PDF]
  

  Report published by the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers regarding medical malpractice lawsuits in North Carolina. This report shows how unfairly the number of medical malpractice cases in North Carolina have been characterized. There surely does not appear to be any medical malpractice crisis in North Carolina. Somewhere around 0.25% of all cases filed in North Carolina were medical malpractice. For all 100 counties in North Carolina from about 1998 through 2007, between 500-600 medical malpractice, negligence, or medical mistake lawsuits were filed on average per year. This is for all of North Carolina. The study shows medical malpractice case dispositions for all counties in North Carolina.

Personal Injury & Wrongful Death

• Auto Insurers Play Hardball in Minor Crash Claims (CNN, Feb. 9, 2007 Article Re: Personal Injury Auto Accident Claims)
  

  CNN determined after reviewing more than 6,000 company documents and court records, interviewing a dozen people nationwide (including former company insiders) and engaging in conversations with accident victims, that "[i]f you challenge the offer by some insurance companies you will be left with no option but to go to court, where you will be dragged through the wringer."

• Thomas Pleasant's Winning Brief to the NC Court of Appeals in Personal Injury Case of Frank v. Funkhouser [PDF]
  

  This brief was written during attorney Thomas Pleasant's tenure with the law firm of Murray, Craven & Inman, L.L.P., a firm that handled substantial insurance defense litigation. Mr. Pleasant wrote this winning brief to the NC Court of Appeals. Attorney Thomas Pleasant has significant insight into how the insurance defense attorneys think, and is able to offer the same litigation skills used to write this brief, in your personal injury or insurance case.

• Thomas Pleasant's Winning Brief to the NC Court of Appeals in Johnson v. Brewington Personal Injury Case [PDF]
  

  Attorney Thomas Pleasant wrote this brief to the NC Court of Appeals, arguing for a large attorney fee awarded against an insured by the trial court to be upheld. The Court of Appeals agreed, and the insurance company, Allstate, eventually had to pay substantial attorney fees on a rather small claim that it had refused to pay in full.

• Johnson v. Brewington Personal Injury Attorney Fee Award - NC Court of Appeals Opinion (also see Thomas Pleasant's winning brief below) [PDF]
  

  The opinion of the NC Court of Appeals upholding the trial court's award of substantial attorney fees in this personal injury automobile accident case tried in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, NC. In this case, Allstate Insurance, the negligent automobile driver's insurance company, Allstate insurance, refused to pay the total amount of the plaintiff's medical expenses. The attorneys hired by Allstate lost at trial, though, and were ultimately responsible for $30,000.00 in attorney fees to the plaintiff.

• NC Court of Appeals Opinion in Frank v. Funkhouser Personal Injury Case (also see Thomas Pleasant's winning brief below) [PDF]
  

  The NC Court of Appeals decided in favor of the insured defendant in this case. Attorney Thomas Pleasant wrote the winning brief while employed with a law firm that did substantial insurance defense work. Thomas Pleasant's appellate litigation skills could help from your side as a plaintiff in a personal injury, unfair claims practices or bad faith insurance case.

Insurance: Unfair Insurance Claim Practices

• United Policyholders Information on UnumProvident's Disability Insurance Practices and Unfair Insurance Claims Practices / Bad Faith Lawsuits
  

  This article, at www.unitedpolicyholders.org, states that "[f]rom publicly available federal court records, it appears that Unum, Unumprovident, Provident Life, and Paul Revere companies have been named in at least 4,575 civil actions concerning insurance from 2000 to the present. This may understate the total number of federal court filings, because an insurance coverage action might also be described as contract or some other category of action, and also because not all federal courts participate in the PACER system from which this information was drawn." Click on this link to view this and other information about UnumProvident, bad faith and unfair insurance claims practices, and disability insurance claims generally.

• Homeowner Claims: Increase Your Payout
  

  CNNMoney.com article outlining how property insurance companies handle property insurance claims. This article might help one see, anticipate and/or understand unfair insurance claims practices or insurance bad faith in the event of a property insurance claim (house fire claim, property theft claim, etc.), or worse, if you are actually having an insurance dispute.

• Dateline Story: The Paper Chase (Regarding Allegedly Unfair Insurance Claims Practices in Disability Insurance Claims)
  

  Dateline investigates State Farm Insurance Company and its little-known practice of "paper review." In a paper review, State Farm employees review a patient's medical records rather than actually examining the patient. The Dateline crew discovered that some State Farm employees use this practice to manipulate the system. For example, the crew found that some employees "secretly orchestrated the supposedly independent medical results, helping author reports and dictating changes to medical opinions that led to lower recommended payments for medical claims."

• UnumProvident "Representation" Letter [PDF]
  

  This letter details some of the relationships between UnumProvident, a large disability insurance company, with other disability insurance companies. This can be important, because UnumProvident could be behind the scene in handling your disability claim. If you have an unfair claims practice claim or insurance bad faith claim, this could be critical information in determining who should be sued, if an unfair insurance claims practices or insurance bad faith lawsuit must be filed.

• Disability Claim Denied! (Business Week Article on Disability Insurer's Unfair Insurance Claims Practices / Bad Faith)
  

  This December 22, 2003 online Business Week Article addresses concerns that were arising about disability insurance company UnumProvident. This article discusses UnumProvident's "roster of rejections."

• AAJ's Top Ten Worst Insurers List (Allstate, State Farm, Unum, Liberty Mutual, Farmers on list) [PDF]
  

  AAJ's recently released report containing the top 10 worst insurance companies in America. This is a must read for consumers. If you think choosing your insurance company carefully is not important, think again. If you face having to make a claim against one of these insurance companies, you might be in for a surprise. Hopefully, you will consider this when purchasing insurance, before you need an insurance lawyer to help you with your insurance claim.

General

• Disability Insurance Market Conduct Investigation Report: Unum Provident and Paul Revere (Unfair Insurance Claims Practices / Bad Faith) [PDF]
  

  This is a copy of a Targeted Multistate Market Conduct Examination (investigation) of companies controlled by or related to disability insurer UnumProvident, including Unum Life Insurance Company, Paul Revere Life Insurance Company, and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company. The insurance commissioners determined that these insurance companies had essentially used unfair claims practices and bad faith in the administration of disability insurance claims.

• State Farm v. Campbell (Excerpt): Why a Judge Found State Farm Cheated Customers For Over Two Decades (Unfair Insurance Claims Practices / Bad Faith) [PDF]
  

  This excerpt details unfair claims practices and bad faith insurance conduct. A Utah trial court judge found that State Farm had repeatedly and "deliberately deceived and cheated its customers." by setting monthly payment caps and individually rewarding those insurance adjusters who paid less than the market value for claims. The judge found that even "[a]gents changed the contents of files, lied to customers, and committed other dishonest and fraudulent acts in order to meet financial goals."

• Fighting for the "Little Guy" - Brief and Resulting Order Denying Contempt Charge Against Thomas Pleasant's Franchisee Client [PDF]
  

  Thomas Pleasant was lead counsel representing a local Medicine Shoppe Franchisee against Medicine Shoppe International, Inc., a large franchisor with over 1,000 franchises worldwide. Thomas Pleasant successfully defended his client against a vigorously fought charge of contempt from this powerful opponent. This was not an insurance bad faith or unfair claims practice case, but demonstrates Thomas Pleasant's commitment to fighting for the "little guy" in disputes with large corporate interests, such as insurance companies in unfair insurance claims practices and insurance bad faith disputes.

• National Association of Insurance Commissioners
  

  Home page for the primary association of insurance commissioners, the state regulators who control and police the insurance industry. Here you can find information that could help with your bad faith insurance or unfair insurance claim practices case; like insurance complaint statistics, information on specific insurance companies, and other useful information about your insurance policy or insurance claim.

• Consumer Federation's Allstate Insurance Anti-Consumer Study [PDF]
  

  35 page report by the Consumer Federation of America regarding Allstate Insurance Company's Excessive Prices and Poor Claims Practices

• Order Denying Allstate Insurance's Motion to Seal Trial Exhibits [PDF]
  

  On August 16, United States District Judge Sarah Vance in New Orleans refused to seal the trial exhibits in Weiss v. Allstate, the case of a New Orleans couple who earlier this year won a $2.8 million verdict against Allstate for illegally refusing a hurricane-related claim. In so ruling, the Court noted that "[p]ublic access serves to enhance the transparency and trustworthiness of the judicial process, to curb judicial abuses, and to allow the public to understand the judicial system better." This is a copy of the order.

• Insurers Increase Profits to Record Levels by Overpricing Policies and Shifting Costs to Consumers and Taxpayers (Report & Press Release from Consumer Federation of America) [PDF]
  

  Consumer Federation of America report on insurance practices. Every insurance lawyer should read this report. Every person looking for an insurance claim lawyer should read this report. Despite record profits, insurance companies still seem to engage in unfair insurance claims practices and insurance bad faith when people have an insurance claim, forcing people to hire an insurance lawyer. The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant can help you with your insurance law or insurance claim dispute or problem.

The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, PLLC
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Fayetteville, NC 28301

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