North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 92 - Workforce Safety and Insurance › Article 92-01 - General Administration › Chapter 92-01-02 - Rules of Procedure - North Dakota Workers' Compensation Act › Section 92-01-02-11.1 - Attorney's fees

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
Upon receipt of a certificate of program completion from the
				  decision review office, fees for legal services provided by employees'
				  attorneys and legal assistants working under the direction of employees'
				  attorneys will be paid when an administrative order reducing or denying
				  benefits is submitted to administrative hearing, district court, or supreme
				  court and the employee prevails; or when a managed care decision is submitted
				  to binding dispute resolution and the employee prevails subject to the
				  following:
1. The organization shall
				pay attorneys at one hundred ninety-five dollars per hour for all actual and
				reasonable time other than travel time. The organization shall pay attorney
				travel time at ninety-eight dollars per hour.
2. The organization may pay legal assistants
				and third-year law students or law school graduates who are not licensed
				attorneys who are practicing under the North Dakota senior practice rule acting
				under the supervision of employees' attorneys up to one hundred fifteen dollars
				per hour for all actual and reasonable time other than travel time. The
				organization shall pay travel time at fifty-seven dollars per hour. A "legal
				assistant" means any person with a bachelor's degree, associate's degree, or
				correspondence degree in a legal assistant or paralegal program from an
				accredited college or university or other accredited agency, or a legal
				assistant certified by the national association of legal assistants or the
				national federation of paralegal associations. The term may also include a
				person employed as a paralegal or legal assistant who has a bachelor's degree
				in any field and experience working as a paralegal or legal
				assistant.
3. Total fees paid by
				the organization for all legal services in connection with a dispute regarding
				an administrative order is an amount equal to twenty percent of the additional
				amount awarded except for an order litigating the initial determination of
				compensability. Awards include those arrived at by a mutually agreed upon
				settlement. Total fees paid under an administrative order may not exceed the
				following:
a. Four thousand four hundred
				eighty dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, following issuance of an
				administrative order under North Dakota Century Code chapter 28-32 reducing or
				denying benefits, for services provided if a hearing request is resolved by
				settlement or amendment of the administrative order before the hearing is
				called to order.
b. Seven thousand
				one hundred dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the hearing request is
				resolved by settlement or amendment of the administrative order after the
				hearing is called to order but before a written decision is issued by the
				administrative law judge; or the employee prevails after the hearing is called
				to order by the administrative law judge.
c. Seven thousand nine hundred dollars, plus
				reasonable costs incurred, if the employee's district court appeal is settled
				prior to submission of briefs. Ten thousand five hundred fifty dollars, plus
				reasonable costs incurred, if the employee prevails after hearing by the
				district court.
d. Twelve thousand
				six hundred fifty dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the employee's
				North Dakota supreme court appeal is settled prior to hearing. Thirteen
				thousand nine hundred dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the employee
				prevails after hearing by the supreme court.
e. Two thousand one hundred dollars, plus
				reasonable costs incurred, if the employee requests binding dispute resolution
				and prevails.
f. Should a
				settlement or order amendment offered during the DRO process be accepted after
				the DRO certificate of completion has been issued, no attorney's fees are
				payable. This contemplates not only identical offers and order amendments but
				those which are substantially similar.