COVID-19 Update

March 23, 2020

Dear Friend,

We hope this message finds you doing well and your family and you are finding innovative ways to maintain your sanity during the period of mandatory “social distancing” we are all dealing with. We know this is a stressful time for many of you. Until the coronavirus situation is behind us, I will periodically send an update to all Joye Law Firm clients to give you some updates on how our law firm is dealing with the virus and what’s going on with our state court systems. Please understand that this is a uniform letter for all of our clients. While almost all of our clients have an injury claim of some sort, we know that some of our clients have different types of legal situations we’re helping them with and some of this information may be irrelevant to them. Here are some answers to some commonly asked questions we have received from our clients.

1. How have the law firm’s daily operations been affected?

This was addressed to some extent in the letter sent to all our clients last week. We continue to have more restrictions on the number of employees physically present at our offices state-wide and reducing the number of office visitors to as close to zero as possible. For our employees, we continue to have skeletal staff present to process the mail and assist with filing the pleadings when necessary. (As to pleadings, as of now, South Carolina has not extended the statute of limitations for personal injury or workers’ compensation cases, which has been done in several states. We have systems in place to monitor claim deadlines and continue to file lawsuits and workers’ compensation hearing requests.) For now, all our employees work a full schedule each week but most work from home on any given day. Fortunately, our employees can complete most of their tasks with internet access to our electronic case management system (all of them do) and access to telephone messages. It is much more likely that you will get voicemail when you call your lawyer or case manager. Please leave detailed messages with the best number for reaching you. All our lawyers and case managers are expected to remain responsive to client voicemails and emails.

As to office visits, please don’t show up at our office unannounced.  We have to adjust our normal way of doing things. We realize that a face-to-face meeting can be helpful to you and us at times.  However, we have no way of knowing who any office visitors have been around or where they may been before they come into our office so each visitor creates a good bit of work for our employees in terms of sanitizing efforts. 99.9% of your dealings with our law firm can be conducted via telephone calls or emails until this situation has improved. Of course, there is no way to know how long these restrictions will be in place but we are hopeful that things will start to improve for the better in a month or so. Time will tell.

2. How has my personal injury case been affected?

First, 90% of our personal injury cases involve injuries sustained due to a car wreck. I will address this question with that in mind.  Even if you have a different type of personal injury case (such as a slip and fall injury), much of this will still be relevant to your case.

If a lawsuit has not been filed on your case yet (and we don’t file lawsuits on 80% of our personal injury cases as our goal is always to try to obtain a fair settlement for you without the necessity of filing suit), we will do all we can to try to keep your claim moving forward as it normally would. One issue that may develop is your access to medical treatment. The extent to which our clients fully treated for their accident-related injuries (and the amount of their medical bills) is an important factor in determining the value of one of these cases. However, we realize that most medical practices have also had to alter their normal course of business. While some medical practices continue to have patients come in for evaluations and treatments (such as injections), other practices have alerted us that they are now using video-conferencing technology, at least for evaluation appointments. There’s no way you can receive an injection through video conferencing. If you have specific treatments scheduled, such as an injection or surgery, contact your doctor’s office to see how they are handling the same and what safety precautions they have in place for their patients. The same would be true for diagnostic tests or physical therapy  If your physical therapy provider is not having patients come in for treatment, see if your therapist can prescribe home exercises to help with your recovery. Many of you may also be receiving medications for your accident injuries. If so, confer with your doctor’s office on how they handle prescriptions. As always, the more compliant you are with your treatment, the more it will help us obtain full value for your claim. The key here is maintaining good communication with your doctors.

If your accident-related treatment has been completed, we will continue to complete the steps necessary to get a demand packet to the insurance company and start settlement negotiations. We continue to gather medical records and bills related to our clients’ cases (most of these requests can be made electronically) and our attorneys and case managers continue to prepare and send out settlement packets. Most insurance companies continue to have their claim adjusters working, although many now work from home. Whenever a settlement offer is made on your case, your attorney will contact you to discuss it.

If a lawsuit has been filed on your case, the coronavirus situation may slow things down. For depositions, we are working to keep scheduled depositions on track (and to continue scheduling appropriate depositions in the future) by recommending that the defense lawyer consent to using video-conferencing or telephone conferences to conduct the same. All the court reporting services we work with have measures in place to allow depositions to continue using this format. Consistent with the state of emergency declared by Governor McMaster, South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Don Beatty has issued an order to suspend all civil jury trials until at least May 1. This makes sense as there is no way the courts could safely gather 100-plus people to a prospective jury panel for jury selection, nor could they safely put 12 people together in a small room for jury deliberations. This will create some backlog with our civil docket so the standard time it would normally take to get a civil case to trial is expected to be extended.  Of course, there is no way to know if this ban on civil jury trials will extend beyond May 1. For now, hearings on civil cases continue to be scheduled using video-conferencing tools or telephone conferences. Also, the county clerk’s offices remain open with a skeletal staff to allow lawsuits and motions to continue to be filed.

3. How has my workers’ compensation case been affected?

Continuing to be compliant with your recommended medical treatment for a work injury may be even more important, especially if you are receiving weekly disability benefits for your work injury. Under South Carolina law, non-compliance with medical treatment recommended by a doctor authorized by the insurance company is a basis for the insurance company’s cutting off your weekly disability benefits. Whether the termination of weekly benefits would be appropriate on this basis is usually determined based on the “reasonableness” of the delay in treatment. Given many people’s concerns about being exposed to this virus, it’s reasonable many patients opted to reschedule a treatment appointment. That’s especially true if you have underlying medical conditions (such as a respiratory condition or ongoing cancer treatment) that would make you especially susceptible to the virus. There is no way for us to say exactly what the commission would deem reasonable, but we anticipate that a delay in treatment of a few weeks would not be considered unreasonable given the circumstances. However, the longer the delay lasts, the greater the likelihood that non-treatment could be used to cut off your weekly disability checks. Again, the most important thing is maintaining good communication with your doctors. We have already had a few clients who have had surgeries or injections delayed by their treating doctors. You have no control over what the doctor’s office decides to do regarding scheduling treatments so this situation should not have any negative effect on your entitlement to disability benefits.

If a hearing request has been filed, there is also a good chance there may be some delay in getting your case heard. On March 21, the Workers’ Compensation Commission issued an advisory notice that there would be no live hearings (meaning hearings at a hearing site with lawyers and witnesses present) until at least May 1. Per this advisory notice, the commission indicated that the commissioners will continue to hold some hearings using the Court Call video-conferencing program. If you have a hearing set to take place before May 1, we are still waiting for guidance and decisions from the commission on whether they will proceed with the scheduled hearing using this technology. Also, we will all have to be educated on what will be involved with using this technology. Your lawyer and case manager will keep you updated on this. The commissioners have advised us that they will continue to review and approve settlement agreements.

To the greatest extent possible, we are working to keep moving forward with depositions and mediations in workers’ compensation cases using the technologies available. At least for now, we have found that the insurance defense lawyers are very amenable to using these technologies to keep cases moving forward.

If your weekly benefits check has been terminated, let your lawyer or case manager know immediately. There have been many instances where we’ve seen workers’ compensation insurance companies refusing to start weekly disability benefits contending that the employee is not working due to a general lay-off caused by the coronavirus instead of by limitations related to the employee’s injuries. Unfortunately, that is an issue that will have to be decided by our court system. We are also concerned about whether the insurance companies will have proper measures in place to continue paying weekly disability benefits in a timely manner. We’ll continue to push the adjusters (or defense lawyers) on this issue for you but we will likely have to file hearing requests on many cases where this happens. We also know that some insurance companies have opted to pay several weeks of benefits at one time because they are concerned about having enough employees on hand to process checks on a weekly basis. If you get one of those checks, note the last date it is paying you through, budget appropriately, and let us know if the weekly checks are not continued once the last date paid has passed.

4. Final thoughts

In closing, we know these are trying times for many of you. At the Joye Law Firm, we obviously don’t have any magic answers about how to deal with many of the hardships created by this unprecedented situation. However, we are here to help you deal with the stress that can be created by having an injury claim. Should you ever have any questions about your case, do not hesitate to call or email us. In the meantime, we hope your family and you stay well and that you can find some healthy ways to deal with the isolation created by the safety measures all of us are having to follow.

Sincerely,
Ken W. Harrell, Managing Partner
Joye Law Firm

March 17, 2020

Dear Friend,

Like every other business in our country, our law firm is having to implement steps to ensure the well-being of our employees and of our clients to the greatest extent possible due to the current coronavirus situation. Our top goal is to ensure that you continue to receive quality representation and that we continue to remain accessible to you for information about your case.

Some of the specific steps we are implementing include the following:

1. Limiting face-to-face encounters – Unless there is some unusual reason why a face-to-face meeting is necessary, all communications with our clients will be by telephone or email.  Most of our client interactions already take place by telephone or by email. However, from time to time, a face-to-face meeting is certainly helpful, both for the client and for the lawyer or case manager. However, limiting these types of interactions as much as possible until this virus situation is under control will promote the safety of all involved – and it’s just good common sense. If you have the capability to Skype or Facetime, we can certainly use that option with you. This restriction on face-to-face meetings will also include meetings that have typically been done in person, including deposition, mediation, and hearing preparation meetings. If such a meeting is already scheduled, we will likely be contacting you to change it to a telephone conference. For trial preparation meetings, your lawyer will decide on a case-by-case basis whether it’s necessary to meet face-to-face. We will also be handling settlement disbursements remotely unless there is an unusual reason not to do the same. There is no reason why your lawyer cannot mail or email your settlement documents to you and then explain them to you on a line-by-line basis over the telephone. Our strong preference will be that we wire your net settlement proceeds to your bank. Our law firm is willing to cover the cost of the wiring process and you will not be charged for the same. If you prefer to receive a check, we will mail the check to you.

If you do come in for a meeting, please do not be offended when we forego the traditional handshake. That’s for your well-being and ours. Also, if you have a meeting scheduled at one of our offices and you are experiencing ANY symptoms consistent with the coronavirus (coughing, fever, body aches, etc.), PLEASE cancel the meeting. Instead of coming to see us, go see your doctor.

We love our clients and it seems unnatural to us to have to limit our face-to-face meetings – and physical contact with you. However, this situation is uncharted territory for all of us and we all need to be as prudent as possible.

2. Some JLF employees work from home – to protect our team members, we have some employees work from home until the coronavirus has been effectively contained. There’s no way to know when that will happen although most scientists (who we should all be listening to right now) believe this situation is expected to last for months, rather than weeks. Fortunately, our employees can complete their work tasks from any location with computer access to our case management systems (and we won’t allow someone to work remotely without such access). With that being the case, our employees should be able to provide you with seamless service, including responding to your emails and telephone calls. Providing responsive service is one of our law firm’s hallmarks, not just during a crisis. If you are having trouble getting a timely response from your attorney or case manager, contact me at (843) 725-7171 or email me at kharrell@joyelawfirm.com.

This is a stressful time for everyone worldwide. Part of our job is to reduce the stress you’re feeling due to your accident injuries, or whatever legal situation you’re dealing with. We are working hard to make sure it is business as usual despite the challenges created by this virus. We appreciate your understanding as we do the same and again thank you for choosing the Joye Law Firm.

Sincerely,
Ken W. Harrell, Managing Partner
Joye Law Firm

Due to school closures due to COVID-19, we extended the deadline for our 2020 scholarship to May 31st to allow students to apply and submit the required transcripts. The 2020 scholarship program is now closed. Please like our Facebook page for updates.

Our firm is recognizing frontline grocery workers and local restaurants keeping South Carolinians fed during the Coronavirus pandemic.

We have delivered hundreds of free pizzas to grocery store workers in Charleston, Summerville, Columbia, and Myrtle Beach to thank these frontline workers who have bravely performed their jobs during the pandemic. We also support local restaurants by giving away $75 restaurant gift cards to several lucky winners who nominate their favorite local eateries on Joye’s Facebook page.

“We want to recognize the hard work and sacrifice that these folks are making for us day in and day out,” said Ken Harrell, managing partner of Joye Law Firm. “They keep us fed and we wanted to treat them to a lunch on us to let them know how much we appreciate everything they do.”

Recognizing essential workers doing their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic is our goal. We teamed up with D’Allesandro’s Pizza in Charleston and D’Allesandro’s Pizza Nexton to treat frontline grocery store workers to a free lunch at numerous stores in Charleston and Summerville.

Pizzas were delivered to the Publix Super Market at 10 West Edge in Charleston, Publix in Summerville, Harris Teeter at 680 Bacons Bridge Road in Summerville, Harris Teeter at 290 E. Bay St. in Charleston, Food Lion at 1015 King St. in Charleston, Food Lion in Summerville, the Veggie Bin in Charleston, BI-LO stores on Bacons Bridge Road and Main Street in Summerville, Piggly Wiggly in Summerville, Family Dollar in Summerville, Burbages Grocery on Broad St. in Charleston and Charlie’s Grocery in downtown Charleston.

In Columbia, Joye Law teamed up with The Village Idiot Pizza to serve lunch to grocery workers. They delivered pizzas to Food Lion at 2312 Decker Blvd., Lowes Foods at 4711 Forest Dr., Publix Super Market at Trenholm Plaza, Trader Joe’s, Food Lion at 1001 Harden St., Publix Super Market at Gervais Place, Publix Super Market at Rosewood Shopping Center, The BI-LO Super Saver stores on Knox Abbott Dr. and Charleston Highway and Food Lion #378.

We also partnered with Main Slice Pizza in North Myrtle Beach to serve up slices to grocery store workers on the Grand Strand. They delivered pizzas to Food Lion, Publix, Boulineau’s IGA, Aldi’s, Kroger, and Walmart in Myrtle Beach.

We are so grateful for all that these essential workers do and are happy to show them our support.

May 21st, 2020

Dear Friend,

We hope your loved ones and you continue to be well as all continue to deal with issues related to the COVID-19 situation. Our firm has continued to be fully operational over the past two months, although most of our employees have been working from home using remote access to our file management system.

Because this is a novel situation for all of us, it is impossible to know with certainty how we should best deal with it. However, with some of our court systems starting to re-open on June 1, we have decided to use this date as our targeted date for “re-opening” our physical offices. As to our courts, the Workers’ Compensation Commission will start holding live hearings again on June 1. When jury trials will re-commence in South Carolina is a bigger unknown, South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty has indicated that he hopes to see jury trials resume by the end of this summer.

Just as our courts will have safety protocols, the same will be true for our law firm’s physical offices in Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Columbia, and Clinton. First, we ask that you not come to our offices without an appointment. Over the last couple of months, we have learned how effective remote access can be by using tools such as Zoom. However, if you feel like you need a direct meeting with the lawyer or case manager working on your file, please call them directly to discuss this. We will have safety procedures in place for all of our employees. The same thing will be true for ALL visitors to our offices. The specifics of these safety requirements will be determined as we get closer to June 1 but they are likely to include such things as requiring masks during visits (which we can provide) and hand sanitizing procedures. If we ask that certain safety procedures be followed, please know that this is being done to protect our team members and to protect you so we ask for your cooperation. Perhaps most importantly, if you are experiencing any symptoms that could be related to COVID-19 (coughing, shortness of breath, fever, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, loss of smell or taste) or if you have been exposed to anyone who has been diagnosed with having this virus, DO NOT come to our office. Instead, please call us and we will decide when it would be safe for you to come in if we cannot effectively meet using available technology.

All of us are anxious to see things return to some sense of normalcy but we also know that a little common sense will go a long way towards keeping South Carolinians as healthy and as safe as possible. We appreciate your allowing our law firm to represent you and we also appreciate your patience as we work to chart a path forward on how to best deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Very truly yours,

Ken W. Harrell
Managing Partner

June 24th, 2020

Dear Mr./Ms. _________:

Unfortunately, we continue to deal with a moving target when it comes to how to best deal with the coronavirus situation. We have now had immediate family members of law firm employees comes down with the virus and several of our employees are currently waiting on test results due to their direct exposure to someone who has COVID-19. On June 1, we attempted to re-open our offices to the public, just as much of the state was re-opening for business. It has now become clear that the risk of contracting this virus in South Carolina is increasing, rather than decreasing. Over the past two weeks, our state has seen a record number of new cases and, perhaps more importantly, hospitalizations. In light of these facts, we are unfortunately having to close our offices to public visitors again.  We are doing this for everyone’s protection – your family’s and yours and our employees. Please rest assured that this will have no impact on our ability to handle your case. All of our firm’s employees continue to work a full work week, although most of them are working from home for the majority of the week. If you ever have any issue with getting a timely response from anyone at Joye Law Firm, please feel free to contact me directly by calling (843)725-7171 or by emailing me at kharrell@joyelawfirm.com.

As far as our court systems are concerned, there are still no jury trials being held in South Carolina and given the logistical challenges of qualifying a jury (which can involve having 100-plus people in the same room for qualification purposes), there is no way for us to accurately predict when jury trials will resume. Our Workers’ Compensation Commission is continuing its operations and it resumed live hearings on June 1 with safety protocols in place. Time will tell as to whether the commission will need to alter its approach. In the meantime, all other proceedings related to a legal claim (submission of demand packets, negotiations with insurance carriers, depositions and mediations (settlement conferences)) continue as usual, albeit many of these proceedings are being done using remote access technology such as Zoom.

If you are still treating for your accident injuries, we realize that you may face some challenges accessing medical care as each medical practice and hospital has its own policies in place. Please do continue to do what you can to receive necessary medical treatment as this is always a key component of any injuries claim.

As always, thank you for allowing the Joye Law Firm to represent you. We hope your families and you remain well. We will all get through this together one day at a time.

Sincerely,

Ken W. Harrell
Managing Partner