Category: Newsworthy

The Professional Ethics Commission is comprised of eight attorneys who meet monthly to volunteer their time and expertise to render formal and informal written advisory opinions to the Court, Board, Grievance Commission, Bar Counsel, and members of the Maine bar involving the interpretation and application of the Maine Rules of Professional Conduct applicable to lawyers. ...

In its final decision of 2017 an en banc panel of the Appellate Division consisting of seven ALJs unanimously denied an appeal brought by an employee in a case in which a claim of a gradual mental injury had been denied.  In Henderson v. Town of Winslow, Me. W.C.B. No. 17-46 (App. Div. 2017), the...

In its second workers’ compensation opinion of the year, the Law Court has addressed determination of employment status in a unique factual context.  In Huff v. Regional Transportation Program, 2017 ME 229 (December 12, 2017), the petitioner volunteered as a driver for a non-profit agency which provided transportation services to disabled and low-income clients.  At...

Norman, Hanson & DeTroy is honored to be ranked in the 2018 edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers. The Firm has been recognized for the following practice areas: Metropolitan Tier 1 Portland-ME Appellate Practice Commercial Litigation Insurance Law Labor Law – Union Litigation – Real Estate Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants Personal Injury Litigation...

In Bailey v. City of Lewiston, 2017 ME 160, 168 A.3d 762, the Law Court ruled that after a PI determination has been made by the Board, an employer cannot seek to lower the assessment in a subsequent proceeding based upon a change in medical condition.  However, in its opinion the Court in the broadest...

Shortly after the Law Court’s landmark decision in Bailey v. City of Lewiston, 2017 ME 160 (July 20, 2017), the Appellate Division has had an opportunity to apply the holding of that decision in a claim involving an attempt to revise a prior PI determination.  The Bailey decision is extremely significant, as the Court held...

It has long been recognized that when the amount of entitlement to benefits for incapacity has been established by Board decree, that determination may later be revised based upon evidence of a change of economic circumstances.  A recent decision of the Appellate Division addressed the issue of whether work search evidence, without more, can be...

Incapacity benefits are based upon the pre-injury average weekly wage, which in most cases is the average of the employee’s earnings received during the 52-week period preceding the injury. In the vast majority of cases earnings received during this period are simply averaged together and the resulting figure is deemed to reflect what the employee’s...

Section 214(1)(A) provides employers with a strong mechanism for controlling costs in compensation claims.  Specifically, if an employer extends an offer of reasonable employment to an injured employee who is out of work due to an injury, and if the employee refuses that offer without good cause, the employee “is no longer entitled to any...

Norman, Hanson & DeTroy is proud to announce that sixteen of its attorneys have been named to the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, the oldest and most respected peer review publication in the legal provision. First published in 1983, Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive annual peer-review survey comprising of nearly...

By Christopher C. Taintor, Esq.   Disability discrimination has been a fertile area of litigation for several years.  The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that in fiscal year 2016, it received more than 28,000 charges which included some allegation of discrimination on the basis of disability – roughly double the number reported in 2005. ...

By Jonathan W. Brogan, Esq.  We all live in an information exploded age.  E–mail, social media, computer files and records, satellite tracking systems, and video are a daily part of all of our lives.  Because they are a part of all of our lives, they have now become an integral part of the discovery process...