New Orleans is famous for Mardi Gras.  Fat Tuesday is often seen as a time to celebrate and overindulge before the Lenten season.  Success of a New Orleans Mardi Gras is often measured by the amount of alcohol and food consumed and by the number of tons of trash collected during the parade season, 1,200 tons in 2018.   New Orleans Mardi Gras also helped set the  record breaking year for tourism in 2017 with visitors coming from across the United States but primarily from within Louisiana and from Texas, Mississippi, California, Florida and New York. Along with the increase in visitors to the City looking for a good time, comes an increase in the number of Car Accidents.    A 2019 study conducted using Accident Report data provided by the New Orleans Police Department, City of New Orleans shows an increase in traffic accidents in the two week period leading up to Mardi Gras of  17.8% (2018),  39.6% (2017) and 7.26% (2016) over the same two week period a year earlier (that does not including the two week period leading up to Mardi Gras).  The Saturday before Mardi Gras is the most active day for New Orleans Mardi Gras car accidents with 136 in 2017, the record setting year for tourism, and 126 in 2018.  Learn more about the locations and number of accidents each day by hovering your mouse (or on mobile, your finger) over the interactive maps and graphs below to explore the data.    Where Do Mardi Gras […]

What is  The Jones Act? The Jones Act governs transportation of merchandise between U.S. ports. To participate, a vessel must be built in the United States, flagged (or registered in the United States), be owned by a company with 75% U.S. ownership, and crewed by 75% American sailors. How Does The Jones Act Benefit Southeast Louisiana? Southeast Louisiana’s First Congressional District is number one for Jones Act jobs. • The district supports 33,590 jobs that generate an $8.97 billion economic impact for the state. • Between 2011 and 2016, 8,540 new Jones Act jobs were created in LA-01. • Louisiana overall has 70,780 Jones Act jobs with an $18.2 billion economic impact. • Nationally, the maritime industry supports 648,220 jobs and generates a $154.8 billion economic impact. How Does The Jones Act Benefit Injured Workers? The Jones Act is also helpful to injured Jones Act Seamen insofar as it allows an injured Jones Act Seaman to recover full compensation for his injuries. Most workers compensation systems such as the Louisiana Workers Compensation Act and Longshore & Harbor Workers Compensation Act only provide for a limited recovery, including weekly or biweekly wage loss benefits and medical benefits and limited death benefits for certain people. However, the Jones Act permits the Jones Act Seaman to recover for the seaman’s related past and future loss of income, expenses of medical care, pain and suffering and disability (loss of enjoyment of activities of normal life). For death, the seaman’s representative can recover for certain […]

If you are injured on the job and your job injury is covered by the Louisiana Workers Compensation Act, your healthcare providers will probably be paid according to the amounts set forth in the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Fee Schedule. The Fee Schedule sets forth rates for reimbursement according to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. In the event there is no procedure code because of the procedure is relatively new, the reimbursement is made by report (“BR”). In this situation, it may be best for the healthcare provider to negotiate the fee before the procedure is performed otherwise the provider may be faced with negotiating the fee after the procedure is done.   If you are an injured worker or know of an injured worker who has questions about his or her weekly workers compensation payments or medical treatment, have him or her call workers compensation attorney Charles E Lavis  Jr at 1-866-558-9151 for a FREE  TELEPHONE CONSULTATION or contact him online.   For a copy of the Fee Schedule, see Maximum Reimbursement Allowances-Schedule Louisiana Office of Workers’s Comp_Title-40v01-(April-2014) at Page 407   If you are a medical provider or billing company and have questions about the Fee Schedule and updates and revision to it,  contact Medical Services Section Office of Workers’ Compensation P.O. Box 94040 Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9040 Telephone: (225) 342-7555 Fax: (225) 342-5665 owca@lwc.la.gov     READ WHAT OUR CLIENTS HAVE TO SAY “Charles Lavis Jr helped me out a couple of times with job injury cases. The insurance company tried to mess me over a couple of […]

Louisiana Workers Compensation Death Benefits provide payment to the deceased employee’s family, including a $8,500 funeral benefit. WHO RECEIVES BENEFITS AND IN WHAT ORDER? Dependents are paid according to this schedule: Widow/Widower (“Widow”): 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage Widow and One Child: 46 ¼ % of employee’s average weekly wage Widow and Two or More Children: 65% of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow & One child alone: 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow & Two Children alone: 46 ¼ % of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow & Three or more Children alone: 65% of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow or Children, then to dependent father or mother: 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage If no Widow or Children, then to dependent father and mother: 65% of employee’s average weekly wage If there are neither widow, widower, nor child, nor dependent parent entitled to compensation, then to one brother or sister, 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage with 11% additional for each brother or sister in excess of one. If other dependents than those enumerated, 32 ½ % of employee’s average weekly wage for one, and 11% additional for each such dependent in excess of one, subject to a maximum of 65% of employee’s average weekly wage for all, regardless of the number of dependents If the employee leaves no legal dependents, whether biological or adopted, entitled to benefits under any state or […]