Practice Areas
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Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect
- Golden Living Centers in North Carolina and elsewhere - are the alleged problems in this nursing chain over?
- Nursing Home Transparency Bill Passes
- Nursing Home Abuse: Accountability and Transparency
- CNA Treatment Surely Affects Patient Care In Nursing Homes
- Britthaven Nursing Homes: On the Watch List?
Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice
- Medical Malpractice Myth - Tom Baker's Book
- Medical Malpractice Insurers Faked Lawsuit Crisis
- Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform: AAJ Primer
- Would Tort or Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Reform Lower Health Care Costs?
- Americans for Insurance Reform Articles on Medical Malpractice
Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
- Auto Accident Insurance (Underinsured Motorist Coverage)
- Life Care Plans for Future Care in Personal Injury Cases Add Up
- $1.9 Million Settlement to Man Killed by Drunk Driver
- Threat of Personal Injury from Dog Bites in Fayetteville North Carolina
Insurance: Unfair Insurance Claim Practices
- Assurant Insurance (formerly Fortis Insurance) Pays Dearly For Misconduct
- Buying Disability Insurance Article May Help Avoid Problems With Unfair Disability Insurance Claim Denials
- Unum Insurance, Provident Life Insurance, Paul Revere Insurance - Regulatory Settlement Details, etc.
- Independent Insurance Adjusters - Help With Insurance Claim Problems
- Insurance Bad Faith Claims on Wikipedia
General
News
- Article on Nursing Home Injury and Nursing Home Wrongful Death Lawsuit Pioneer
Posted on 5/14/2009 - Sunbridge Nursing Home Lawsuit Filed
Posted on 5/13/2009 - Family sues nursing home in alleged sex attack
Posted on 5/13/2009 - Kindred Nursing Homes and Hospitals' Profits Increased in First Quarter 2009
Posted on 5/6/2009 - North Carolina Medical Malpractice Case Filed Against Hospital Over Death Of Child
Posted on 5/5/2009
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.
Library Categories:
- Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect
- Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice
- Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
- Insurance: Unfair Insurance Claim Practices
- General
Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect:
- Nursing Home Resident Assessment Instrument Handbook
Description: Medicare's handbook for skilled nursing facilities for the use of the "Resident Assessment Instrument" which is critical for patient care planning and avoiding injury and death of nursing home residents. - Nursing Home Resident Assessment Instrument Handbook
Description: Medicare's handbook for skilled nursing facilities for the use of the "Resident Assessment Instrument" which is critical for patient care planning and avoiding injury and death of nursing home residents. -
Description: Medicare's handbook for skilled nursing facilities for the use of the "Resident Assessment Instrument" which is critical for patient care planning and avoiding injury and death of nursing home residents. - American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) Clinical Practice Guidelines
Description: The American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) is the key association of nursing home medical directors (e.g., the doctor in charge of care at a nursing home). These clinical guidelines are specifically applicable to nursing home care, and may provide useful information to families who have experienced the abuse or neglect of a loved one in a nursing home. Also, these guidelines might prove helpful to families in avoiding problems with the care (or lack of care) at a nursing home. - 12 Tips for Nursing Home Abuse, Neglect and Wrongful Death (A Free E-Book By Attorney Thomas Pleasant) [PDF]
Description: 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:
- AAJ' Medical Negligence Primer: Debunking Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Myths [PDF]
Description: For people hurt by doctors, hospitals, nurses and/or surgery and other medical malpractice situations; this "primer" will help shed light on the myths about reforming and limiting people's right to sue doctors, hospitals and other health care givers when those doctors and hospitals make mistakes and hurt or kill people. The insurance and health care corporate lobbies are pushing to limit people's rights to bring medical lawsuits. This also hurts those who need to bring lawsuits against nursing homes or assisted living facilities. - Insurance Industry’s Investment Practices – Not The Legal System – Cause High Malpractice Insurance Costs [PDF]
Description: Americans for Insurance Reform Fact Sheet discussing the true causes of high medical malpractice insurance costs - The Defensive Medicine Myth [PDF]
Description: Americans for Insurance Reform article discussing the myth that health care providers (doctors, hospitals) practice "defensive medicine" because of fear of medical malpractice liability. - The Problem With Medical Malpractice Is The Amount Of Malpractice Itself [PDF]
Description: Americans for Insurance Reform article, "The Problem With Medical Malpractice Is The Amount Of Malpractice Itself" explaining the real cause for medical negligence lawsuits. - Editorial on Starting Over on Bill Dealing with Medical Malpractice/Mistakes
Description: Interesting article from denverpost.com outlining some of the history and problems with caps on medical malpractice damages. Specifically, the editorial suggests the problems arbitrary limits on personal injury awards arising from medical mistakes cases. The author concludes that the victims of medical malpractice deserve to be paid reasonable compensation for their injuries.
Personal Injury & Wrongful Death:
- NC Court of Appeals Opinion in Frank v. Funkhouser Personal Injury Case (also see Thomas Pleasant's winning brief below) [PDF]
Description: 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. - Johnson v. Brewington Personal Injury Attorney Fee Award - NC Court of Appeals Opinion (also see Thomas Pleasant's winning brief below) [PDF]
Description: 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. - Thomas Pleasant's Winning Brief to the NC Court of Appeals in Johnson v. Brewington Personal Injury Case [PDF]
Description: 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. - Thomas Pleasant's Winning Brief to the NC Court of Appeals in Personal Injury Case of Frank v. Funkhouser [PDF]
Description: 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. - Auto Insurers Play Hardball in Minor Crash Claims (CNN, Feb. 9, 2007 Article Re: Personal Injury Auto Accident Claims)
Description: 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."
Insurance: Unfair Insurance Claim Practices:
- Tips from Policyholders of America: Should You Sue Your Insurance Company?
Description: Policyholders of America has published a useful list of tips for people considering suing their insurance company for not handling an insurance claim fairly. - AAJ's Top Ten Worst Insurers List (Allstate, State Farm, Unum, Liberty Mutual, Farmers on list) [PDF]
Description: 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. - Dateline Story: The Paper Chase (Regarding Allegedly Unfair Insurance Claims Practices in Disability Insurance Claims)
Description: 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." - Homeowner Claims: Increase Your Payout
Description: 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. - United Policyholders Information on UnumProvident's Disability Insurance Practices and Unfair Insurance Claims Practices / Bad Faith Lawsuits
Description: 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.
General:
- 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]
Description: 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. - Order Denying Allstate Insurance's Motion to Seal Trial Exhibits [PDF]
Description: 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. - Consumer Federation's Allstate Insurance Anti-Consumer Study [PDF]
Description: 35 page report by the Consumer Federation of America regarding Allstate Insurance Company's Excessive Prices and Poor Claims Practices - National Association of Insurance Commissioners
Description: 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. - Fighting for the "Little Guy" - Brief and Resulting Order Denying Contempt Charge Against Thomas Pleasant's Franchisee Client [PDF]
Description: 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.
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Frequent Questions
Insurance: Unfair Insurance Claim Practices
- What if my insurance company says that my claim is not covered due to the specific provision?
- I am not sure as to the extent of my coverage, have not read my policy and not sure if my claim is covered. Does this mean I cannot file my claim?
- My insurance company has offered an unfair settlement. What can I do?
General
- How do I know if I am covered by ERISA (Employer Retirement Income Security Act) or by a private plan?
- Can I assert a “bad faith” claim for insurance provided by my employer?
- How is disability considered during the hiring process?
- What rights am I granted under the insurance policy?
- What kind of bad faith insurance claims are there?