Forget To Identify an Issue? No Problem!
By Tara Muller
Question: When a brief writer is drafting Contentions or a Full Commission brief and identifies a compelling argument about an issue which was never raised, what can she do?
Answer: Argue it anyway!
Thanks to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Haulcy v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber (June 5, 2018), parties who fail to raise an issue in the Pre-Trial Agreement or even in the Form 44 to the Full Commission enjoy some well-deserved leniency, if the Industrial Commission deems the issue to be relevant.