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Attorney Profile

James E. Pocius

Shareholder
Chair, Medicare Set-Aside Practice Group
50 Glenmaura National Boulevard
Moosic, PA 18507
(570) 496-4601
(570) 496-0567 - Fax
jepocius@mdwcg.com

Jim is the chair of the Medicare Set-Aside Practice Group. He acts as national Medicare counsel for several clients and has obtained more than 1,000 Medicare set-aside approvals. Most of Jim's practice concerns Medicare issues in both liability and workers' compensation cases. He negotiated the Medicare set-aside guidelines with CMS and maintains a national Medicare practice.

Since joining Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin in 1992, when the firm assumed his practice in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Jim has developed extensive experience in the defense of workers' compensation matters and defense liability claims. He has litigated hundreds of workers' compensation cases in the state courts of Pennsylvania and has also litigated hundreds of federal black lung cases over the last 25 years. Jim has provided counsel to clients regarding workers' compensation settlements, workers' compensation issues nationally and Medicare set-asides.

In 2004, Jim was named legal advisor to LRP's National Workers' Compensation Program. He has served as editor-in-chief of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce's Workers' Compensation Manual since 2005. Jim also served as vice chair of the Workers' Compensation Committee in the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section of the American Bar Association from July 2000 until August 2001. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute and was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in 2006 and 2009 in the area of workers' compensation.

Jim has addressed many groups on a national basis with regard to workers' compensation matters. He has been published nationally in the Compleat Lawyer (the ABA publication) and in the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Quarterly with regard to the Heart and Lung Act and Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act in Pennsylvania. Jim has lectured for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, National Business Institute, Lorman Business Institute and Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce. He was an adjunct professor at Marywood College teaching workers' compensation in the ABA-approved paralegal program.

After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State University, Jim received his juris doctor from Duquesne University in 1978. He served as a judicial law clerk to Common Pleas Judge James J. Walsh until 1979, the year in which he joined a defense firm in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Jim then had his own defense practice from 1987 until 1992.

Jim is a board member for the St. Francis soup kitchen in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Significant Representative Matters

  • Successfully represented an employer defending a workers' compensation claim after a near fatal car accident. The plaintiff had severe brain damage. Jim was able to prove that the claimant was intoxicated at the time of the accident and received a verdict in favor of the employer.

  • Represented an employer trucking firm with regard to a Medicare set-aside and was able to reduce the set-aside from $750,000 to $200,000.

Areas of Practice

Education

  • Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1978 J.D.

    Honors: Student Rep. from Duquesne Law School to the American Bar Association, 1977

  • Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 1974 B.A.

    Major: Political Science

Published Works

  • Multiple articles published in Counterpoint, the official newsletter of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute, on behalf of Marshall Dennehey, concerning multiple workers' compensation issues

  • "Medicare Set-Asides Go Skyward," Risk & Insurance magazine, 2006

  • "The Odd Couple: Medicare and Workers' Compensation Settlements," Journal of Construction Accounting and Taxation, 2003

  • "Commonwealth Court Continues to Define 'Incarceration' Under the Workers' Compensation Act," Counterpoint, January 2000

  • "Commonwealth Court Changes The Rules On Medical Testimony In Pennsylvania," Workers' Compensation PSIA Newsletter, January 1999

  • "Offsets Under Act 57," co-author; Pennsylvania Bar Institute, September 1997

  • "Litigation in Workers' Compensation Claims," co-author; American Bar Association, Compleat Lawyer, July 1997

  • "Defining the ADA," co-author; Pennsylvanian magazine, May 1997

  • "Analysis of the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act," (Federal Black Lung), co-author; International Risk Management, 1996

  • "Interaction Between the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act and the Heart and Lung Act," Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, July 1995

  • "Attorney's Fees and Penalties," Pennsylvania Bar Institute, 1992

Classes/Seminars Taught

  • Avoiding Settlement Disasters Regarding Medicare and Workers' Compensation and Liability Cases, Louisiana Bar Association, August 2011

  • Concerning Medicare Issues, Florida Workers' Compensation Conference, June 2011

  •  Avoiding Settlement Disasters Regarding Medicare Issues, Kentucky Bar Association, June 2010

  • Update on Medicare Set-Asides 2010 and panel speaker for discussion on new medical devices and medications, PESI National Workers' Compensation Conference, February 2010

  • Workers' Compensation Boot Camp, Orthopedics Du Jour, and How to Cope with Constant Change, LRP National Workers' Compensation Conference, November 2009

  • Workers' Compensation Settlement Strategies, IRMI National Construction Conference, November 2009

  • Medicare webinar for Risk & Insurance Magazine, April 2009

  • Experimental and New Medical Devices and How to avoid MSA Disasters When Settling Workers' Compensation and Liability Cases, PESI National Workers' Compensation Conference, February 2009

  • Great Workers' Compensation Debate, How to Avoid 10 Costly Litigation Errors, and Medicare Set-Asides: Ask the Expert, LRP National Workers' Compensation Conference, November 2008

  • Coming and Going Rule - When is Worker Covered Under Workers' Compensation Statutes? and Update on Medicare Set-Asides, PESI National Workers' Compensation Conference, October 2008

  • Experts Debate Key Issues in Workers' Compensation, Settling the Catastrophic Workers' Compensation Claim, and  Medicare and Workers' Compensation - Where Are we Now, LRP National Workers' Compensation Conference, November 2007

  • Complex Workers' Compensation Case Settlements, PA Department of Labor Workers' Compensation Conference, May 2007

  • Medicare Set-Asides and Workers' Compensation, National RIMS Confeence, April 2007

  • Case Law Developments - Top 20 Cases of the Year and Medicare's Interest in W.C. Settlements, PESI National Workers' Compensation Conference, April 2007

  • Medicare and Settlements in Workers' Compensation, Maryland Bar Association, 2007

  • Advantages of Coordinating the Defense of Workers' Compensation Cases and Unemployment Cases, PESI National Workers' Compensation Conference, February 2007

  • Settling the Difficult Workers' Compensation Claim, LRP National Workers' Compensation Conference, January 2007

  • Medicare Issues: Ask the Expert, LRP National Workers' Compensation Conference, 2006-2011

  • Advantages of Coordinating the Defense of Workers' Compensation Cases and Unemployment Cases, LRP National Workers' Compensation Conference, November 2006

  • Medicare Issues and PA Law Update in Workers' Compensation, PA Chamber of Commerce Workers' Compensation Seminar, 2006

  • National Workers' Compensation Issues, IRMI National Construction Conference, October 2006

  • Medicare Issues With Regard to Workers' Compensation, PESI National Workers' Compensation Conference and LRP National Workers' Compensation Conference, 2005

  • Medicare Set-Asides and Workers' Compensation, Central Ohio Self-Insureds Association, 2004

  • Medicare Set-Aside Update, National Council of Self-Insureds, 2004

  • Medicare Regulations and Their Effect on Workers' Compensation, National RIMS Conference, 2004

  • Medicare and Workers' Compensation, National Council of Self-Insureds, 2001

  • Twenty-Four Hour Coverage and National Trends in Workers' Compensation, C.P.C.U. Society - Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997

  • Speaker for the Lorman Business Institute regarding various problems and analysis in Pennsylvania workers' compensation, 1992 - 1997

  • Setoffs Under Act 57, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, September, 1997

  • Panel speaker regarding combined problems of workers' compensation, unemployment and Americans with Disabilities Act from the defense viewpoint, National Workers' Compensation and Disability Conference, November 1996

  • Repetitive Trauma in Workers' Compensation Cases, American Bar Association, 1996 and 1997

  • Analysis of Act 57 and Predictions for the Future, C.P.C.U. Society - Reading, Pennsylvania, 1996

  • The Holding by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the Randall v. Bethlehem Steel Case Affirming Termination, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Fall Program, 1996

  • Attorney's Fees and Penalties Under the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Fall Program, 1992

Past Employment Positions

  • Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, Hon. James Walsh, President Judge, law clerk, 1978-1979

  • Lenahan & Dempsey, P.C., 1979-1987

  • Law Offices Of James E. Pocius, Esquire, 1987-1992

  • Marywood College, Scranton, associate professor, Legal Studies Program, 1987, 1989, 1991

  • City of Scranton, Assistant Solicitor, 1988-1989

  • Worker's Compensation Guide, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry, co-editor-in-chief, 1997-present

Defense Digest Article • March 1, 2011
Medicare Law Practice Group The Medicare Set Aside Practice Group is centered in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, office of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin and is chaired by James E. Pocius, with Ross A. Carrozza as vice-chairman. Both..., Defense Digest, Vol. 17, No. 1, March 2011
Read More >>
Articles • April 1, 2009
Risk & Insurance, April 1, 2009
Read More >>
Articles • March 1, 2009
Pennsylvania Self-Insurer's Association Workers' Compensation Newsletter, March 2009
Read More >>
Conference • Nov 9, 2011
James Pocius, Esquire, will be a presenter at the 20th Annual Workers' Compensation and Disability Conference and Expo in Las Vegas on November 9-11.  There's no letup in the confusion and expense of complying with the Medicare...
Read More >>

Areas of Practice

Education

  • Pennsylvania State University (B.A., 1974)
  • Duquesne University School of Law (J.D., 1978)

Bar Admissions

  • Pennsylvania, 1978

Associations & Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • Lackawanna County Bar Association
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
  • Pennsylvania Defense Institute

Honors & Awards

Year Joined Organization: 1992

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