News & Publications

Eight lawyers from McCandlish Holton Morris were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers In America© for 2018.

August 25, 2017— A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, Claims Licensing Advancement for Interstate Matters Act or CLAIM Act. (H. R. 3363) would provide for uniformity in licensing requirements and reciprocity across states that license claims adjusters. The bill was introduced on July 24, 2017 by Rep. David Kustoff, [R-TN] and has been referred to the Committee on Financial Services. 

Congratulations to the Immigration Pratice Group of McCandlish Holton Morris for being named to the Top 21 Immigration Firms in the Washington DC area. Expertise.com scored immigration lawyers on more than 25 variables across five categories, and analyzed the results to produce a hand-picked list of the best immigration lawyers in Washington DC. 

McCandlish Holton is thrilled to announce our 16th Annual Workers' Compensation Seminar! The seminar has become one of the premier industry events in the Mid-Atlantic Region-- a full day of useful information and continuing education free to adjusters, risk managers, nurse case managers, and brokers. The event will take place September 27, 2017 at The Westin Richmond.

Employers need to keep in mind that, while tempting, mandatory post-accident drug/alcohol testing is no longer permitted.  Effective August, 2016, new OSHA reporting rules require employers to establish a reasonable procedure for employees to report workplace accidents and injuries – free from intimidation or retaliation.

Jennifer Minear was elected to serve as the AILA Second Vice President for the 2017-2018 term. Ms. Minear is a director in the Immigration Practice Group, where her practice focuses on employment-based immigration, with a particular emphasis on the healthcare sector, including J-1 waiver and green card processing for foreign medical graduates.

On Friday, April 27, 2017, the Virginia Supreme Court decided Manu v. GEICO Casualty Company, Record No. 160852, 2017 Va. Lexis 70 (Va. April 27, 2017), a "bad faith" opinion significant to insurers that issue family automobile policies in Virginia.

By: Lauren Ebersole Hutcheson, Esq.

Historically, in Virginia, an employer’s pecuniary liability for medical, surgical and hospital treatment has been limited to the prevailing rate in the community to determine the reasonableness of the charge pursuant to Va. Code 65.2-605. The uncertainty of the prevailing rate in the community resulted in numerous claims filed by medical providers against employers and carriers for reimbursement of write-offs. As of March 2016, Virginia was one of only 7 states to be without a standardized fee schedule.

On Monday, April 17, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it received approximately 199,000 H-1B petitions during the first five business days of April (April 3-7, 2017) exceeding the statutory cap on available H-1B slots. As a result, USCIS conducted a random computer generated selection process, or “lottery,” to determine which H-1B petitions filed during this period would be accepted.

Virginia case law has consistently held that in order to prove an “injury by accident,”  a claimant must show: 

“(1) an identifiable incident; (2) that occurs at some reasonably definite time; (3) an obvious sudden mechanical or structural change in the body; and (4) a causal connection between the incident and the bodily change.”  Chesterfield Co. v. Dunn, 9 Va. App. 475, 476, 389 S.E.2d 180, 181 (1990).  “Repetitive activity” or “repetitive trauma” injuries are not covered by the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act.   However, in Van Buren v. Augusta County., 66 Va. App. 441 (2016), the Court of Appeals held that a firefighter who noticed neck and shoulder pain after a 45-minute rescue suffered an injury by accident.  The Commission followed that decision in Dugger v. Riverside Regional Jail Authority, JCN VA00001117636 (Jan. 3, 2017), holding that the claimant proved an injury by accident where she noticed a swollen knee after engaging in 4 hours of physical tactics training.   Those decisions suggested a fundamental change in the definition of “injury by accident.”