Firm News

March 13, 2020

PA Workers’ Compensation System and Coronavirus

By now, we are all too familiar with the Coronavirus (COVID-19). At this point, governments, individuals and businesses are still evaluating how best to protect each other and ourselves against this pandemic.

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is largely still open and operating on a normal basis. Hearings are generally still taking place, though the situation is being monitored. One hearing office, however, has been closed for at least a two week period. The Dresher Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office will be closed from March 13 through March 27, 2020. We are told that all hearings and mediations scheduled there are cancelled and will be rescheduled. The Dresher office serves injured workers who live in Eastern Montgomery County (or cases otherwise based in that region); cases based in Western Montgomery County, in the Malvern Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office, will take place as scheduled.

Brilliant & Neiman LLC will remain open, and our attorneys are available to injured workers. However, we will be trying to abide by CDC recommendations, and avoiding personal contact, including hand shaking. We also ask visitors to our offices to use hand sanitizer at our door.

October 23, 2019

Brilliant & Neiman LLC attending Rothman Orthopedic Institute’s Workers’ Compensation Conference

by Glenn Neiman

While we are very conscious of being available to our clients as much as possible, the practice of PA workers’ compensation law, and the litigation process, means we are not always in our offices. Sometimes, in addition to being at workers’ compensation hearings and depositions, our attorneys attend events or presentations that may help us better perform our job protecting the injured worker in PA.

And, so it follows, our attorneys were invited by Rothman Institute to attend their Workers’ Compensation Conference, being held all day on Friday, October 24, 2019. We sincerely apologize if this means we are not available to help our clients on that day directly, though our office staff certainly remains available (and can reach the attorneys for any emergencies). As our clients know, it is the practice of Brilliant & Neiman LLC for the clients to speak directly to the attorney, rather than being forced to always speak to support staff. We apologize for this deviation from our regular course of business.

The Workers’ Compensation Conference will no doubt provide our attorneys with additional tools to help us best protect the rights of injured workers in PA. Topics being presented will include 3-D printing in orthopedic surgery, issues with complex rotator cuff surgery, as well as general updates regarding treatment options for injuries to the neck, back and knees. The Workers’ Compensation Conference will be moderated by Dr. Nicholas Taweel, and will include presentations from Dr. Pedro Beredjiklian, Dr. Mark Lazarus, Dr. Michael Molter, Dr. Howard Yeon and Dr. Paul Steinfield.

September 16, 2019

Attorneys at Brilliant & Neiman LLC Admitted to Northampton County Bar Association

by Brilliant & Neiman

For years, we have had an office in the center of Allentown, and represented injured workers all along the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton corridor. We have attended workers’ compensation hearings at the Workers’ Compensation Judge office in Allentown (on Tilghman Street), as well as at the Northampton County Courthouse (where Northampton County workers’ compensation hearings are held). Indeed, both Allentown and Bethlehem/Easton appears on our website as communities we proudly serve. Recently, it occurred to us that we have never become members of the Northampton County Bar Association (NCBA). We have been members of the Bucks, Lehigh and Philadelphia County Bar Associations, so it certainly seemed like a logical step for us to join the NCBA.

While other bar associations simply welcome new members by having them complete an application, the NCBA handles these things in a more dignified and traditional fashion. Indeed, both of our attorneys (Dina Brilliant and Glenn Neiman) had to obtain sponsors, attend a quarterly NCBA meeting, and be formally approved to become members of the NCBA. And so, at the meeting on September 12, 2019, both Ms. Brilliant and Mr. Neiman were approved as members of the NCBA. We are proud to have been admitted into the NCBA, and we look forward to becoming further involved in the wonderful work the NCBA does in the community, as we have done with the other Bar Associations of which we are members.

We will continue striving to serve injured workers in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton community through our Center City Allentown office, as we do with injured workers in the Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia areas through our offices in Trevose and Warminster. And, for those injured workers elsewhere in the Southeastern to Central areas of PA, we also are happy to meet clients in various other locations conveniently located throughout the region.

September 12, 2019

The Job of Being a PA Workers’ Compensation Attorney

by Glenn Neiman

We have talked before on this blog about how an injured worker can go about choosing a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation attorney. Since this is such a common question, the issue is so important, and there are so many choices, we even have a page on our website devoted to the topic. So, this blog post is not about how to choose a workers’ comp lawyer. Instead, this entry will talk about one of the more important jobs we, as attorneys who represent injured workers, have in the process.

The vast majority of injured workers are not familiar with the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system. From the outside, it can appear to be a complex and complicated arena. Indeed, it can even be complicated for those of us who work with the system every day. Perhaps the scariest aspect of this for the injured worker is simply the vast unknown.

We regularly participate in various injured worker message boards on the internet, providing general legal information to those who ask (we, of course, cannot provide legal advice to someone we do not represent). Many of the questions we see, from injured workers who are already represented by an attorney, as well as those who are not, deal with the PA workers’ compensation process and how it works.

June 28, 2019

Brilliant & Neiman LLC Partner With Lehigh Valley IronPigs

by Glenn Neiman

As many of our readers know, we are very connected to the Lehigh Valley. This is something we feature on our website. We have an office in Center City Allentown, at 609 Hamilton Street, just blocks away from the PPL Center, to serve our clients throughout the Lehigh Valley area. We are also proud members of the Bar Association of Lehigh County.

So, it seemed an obvious decision for us to partner with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the AAA minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. You can now see our advertising when you come out to Coca-Cola Park in Allentown to root on the IronPigs this Summer.

Here are some photos from a game this week, showing our ads:

June 14, 2019

Brilliant & Neiman LLC join Bucks County Lawyers in Social Event

by Brilliant & Neiman

As proud members of the Bucks County Bar Association (BCBA), the attorneys at Brilliant & Neiman LLC joined other members of the BCBA last night for the annual Judge John J. Rufe Softball Game. Playing for the “seasoned” lawyers team (that is, of course, the most diplomatic way one can say “old”), Glenn Neiman helped secure a win for the team. Dina Brilliant cheered on the team from the safe confines of the bench. This was the first win for the old . . . seasoned . . . lawyer team in three years.

Aside from enjoying the comradery of the event, these types of occasions are important for our attorneys to interact with other attorneys across Bucks County. Since our firm limits its practice to just handling Pennsylvania workers’ compensation cases, we do not handle other legal matters. However, we have occasions when our clients, or people who contact our firm, need an attorney for another matter, whether that is a car accident, divorce or support issues, criminal defense, real estate, bankruptcy, employment law or any other area of law. By being active in the BCBA, we have the luxury of having many fine attorneys in various areas of the law to which we can refer clients.

And, it is not just Bucks County. The attorneys at Brilliant & Neiman LLC are also members of the Lehigh and Northampton County Bar Associations, and attend events for the Philadelphia and Montgomery County Bar Associations. This provides our firm with a rich diversity of attorneys for a referral network, in many areas of the law, and many geographic areas.

June 5, 2019

Brilliant & Neiman LLC Attorneys Attend PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Annual Conference

by Glenn Neiman

Our attorneys were out of the office earlier this week, to attend the annual Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Conference, in Hershey, PA. While we hate to have our attorneys both unavailable to help our clients, we feel it is important for us to attend these seminars. This conference is presented by the Bureau itself, so there is an opportunity to obtain information allowing us to stay current on all topics of interest in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation.

While there are not many attorneys, like us, who represent injured workers in attendance, we think listening in is helpful. Most of the attendees at this conference are not attorneys at all; they are adjusters, risk management and safety officials from all across PA. Additionally, many of the Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJs) are in attendance. We can hear what these folks are being told regarding different aspects of the PA workers’ compensation system. This can help us anticipate issues and avoid some pitfalls that could pertain to our clients.

Topics addressed at the different sessions ranged from medical issues (including medical marijuana, the future of “telehealth,” and the role of nurse case managers), to internet surveillance, to Workers Compensation Medicare Set-Asides (WCMSAs), to different insights on how WCJs feel about varying issues.

May 8, 2019

We Are The Law Firm For The Injured Worker In PA

by Glenn Neiman

We are not the official workers’ compensation law firm of the NFL. Or of any major sport. What does that even mean? We do not have a slick marketing department, which puts our faces on billboards or TV. What we ARE is the law firm for injured workers. Our focus is not on fancy marketing; it is on delivering the best personal attention to your case.

We do not have multiple paralegals for each attorney, nor do we have more attorneys than you can count. We have two attorneys that will actually handle your case. What does that mean for you? It means that both of our attorneys are experienced and certified as specialists in workers’ compensation law. Each of our attorneys has over 25 years of experience in the field. You will never have your case handled by a junior attorney with little or no experience. You can be confident that every step of your case will be handled by an experienced and qualified attorney.

Some firms have paralegals and assistants handle the day-to-day things on a case. The injured worker doesn’t speak to his or her attorney; the injured worker speaks to the attorney’s “team.” That is not how we operate. At Brilliant & Neiman LLC, one of our two attorneys is personally handling your case. You can speak directly to your attorney to have any concerns addressed or questions answered.

December 11, 2018

Brilliant & Neiman LLC Workers’ Compensation Site Updated for IRE Changes

by Glenn Neiman

Anyone who follows our blog, or the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system, knows that one of the fastest changing areas these days is that of Impairment Rating Evaluations (IREs). To keep pace with these changes, and continue our goal of educating the injured worker throughout PA, we have updated the IRE section of our website. The new page can be accessed here.

For those unfamiliar with the IRE process, this was something the insurance industry lobbied hard for when major changes were made to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) in 1996. As seen with other States in the Country, an IRE process can change the status of an injured worker from “total” disability to “partial” disability. While this may not (and in PA does not) change the amount of the weekly benefit received by an injured worker, it does start the clock ticking on the number of weeks of partial disability benefits an injured worker can receive (in Pennsylvania, an injured worker can only receive a maximum of 500 weeks of partial disability benefits; there is no limit to the number of weeks of total disability benefits that can be received).

In 2017, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania declared the IRE process, as set forth in the Act, unconstitutional. This set the powerful insurance lobby into full panic mode (though, frankly, the actual financial impact of the loss of the IRE process on the insurance industry is in dispute). As a result, the PA legislature capitulated to the lobby and passed Act 111, reinstating the IRE process. To the surprise of very few, the elected representatives chose to side with the insurance industry over the injured worker.

November 5, 2018

Last Free Workers’ Compensation Seminar – November 29, 2018 at 7:00 p.m.

by Brilliant & Neiman

The last free seminar of the Continuing Education Series presented by Brilliant & Neiman LLC will take place on Thursday, November 29, 2018 at 7:00 p.m., at the headquarters of the firm, 260 West Street Road in Warminster, PA.

This program will talk about the medical issues involved with an injured worker, the types of treatment seen with different conditions, and the insurance and billing issues that can arise. We will also address dealing with chronic pain, in the current environment where prescriptions for opioids have drastically dropped.

While the Community Education Series is free, and we want every injured worker (and those who care about him or her) to attend, reservations are required. To reserve a seat for the program on November 29, 2018, call (215) 638-7500 or e-mail gneiman@bnlegal.com.