Month: October 2019

Oct 31, 2019

Florida Illegal Immigrant Caught in Catch-22

Court Affirms Denial of Benefits Based on Improper Social Security Number. Signaling how easy it is in Florida to deny workers’ compensation benefits to an injured illegal immigrant, yesterday a...

Florida Illegal Immigrant Caught in Catch-22 Florida Illegal Immigrant Caught in Catch-22
Oct 30, 2019

Nebraska Claimant Fails to Connect Sinus Cavity Clot to Earlier DVT

In an unpublished opinion that illustrates the difficulty in establishing medical causation in many aggravation cases, a Nebraska appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Court denying...

Nebraska Claimant Fails to Connect Sinus Cavity Clot to Earlier DVT Nebraska Claimant Fails to Connect Sinus Cavity Clot to Earlier DVT
Oct 28, 2019

Illinois Commission Does Not Have Exclusive Jurisdiction Over Insurance Coverage Question

Acknowledging that under 820 ILCS 305/18, questions under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act must generally be determined by the state’s Industrial Commission, a state appellate court held that the circuit...

Illinois Commission Does Not Have Exclusive Jurisdiction Over Insurance Coverage Question Illinois Commission Does Not Have Exclusive Jurisdiction Over Insurance Coverage Question
Oct 25, 2019

California Employer/Insurer’s Right to Subrogation Does Not Bar Removal of Case to Federal District Court

That a California employer and/or its workers’ compensation insurer might have a subrogation interest in the proceeds of any recovery in a third-party negligence action originally filed in a state...

California Employer/Insurer’s Right to Subrogation Does Not Bar Removal of Case to Federal District Court California Employer/Insurer’s Right to Subrogation Does Not Bar Removal of Case to Federal District Court
Oct 24, 2019

Virginia Court Reverses Award of Home Health Care Provided by Spouse

That an employer had paid for home health care by an agency in the past did not necessarily mean the care provided by an injured employee’s spouse was compensable under...

Virginia Court Reverses Award of Home Health Care Provided by Spouse Virginia Court Reverses Award of Home Health Care Provided by Spouse
Oct 23, 2019

NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury

Where a claimant worked six days a week from February 13, 2017 until May 14, 2017, when he sustained work-related injuries, earning $12,130.76 for the thirteen-week period, it was error...

NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury
Oct 22, 2019

Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition

Testimony by the employer’s independent medical examiner, in which the physician opined that the major contributing cause of claimant’s need for treatment for his respiratory condition was his 17-year history...

Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition
Oct 21, 2019

NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana

In the first appellate decision from New York to deal with the intersection of the state’s medical marijuana law with its Workers’ Compensation Law, a state appellate court recently held...

NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana
Oct 18, 2019

Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers

In a divided decision, a Florida appellate court found that a state trial court had erred when it dismissed an action filed by an injured worker against her workers’ compensation...

Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers
Oct 17, 2019

Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year

Stressing that net profits from the operation of a principal’s subchapter S corporation are not the equivalent of wages earned, the Supreme Court of Nebraska affirmed a determination by the...

Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year
Oct 15, 2019

PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK

Section 306(a.3) Mandating Use of AMA Guides, 6th Ed., Stands In enacting 77 Pa. Stat. § 511.3, which mandates a physician’s use of the American Medical Association “Guides to the...

PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK
Oct 11, 2019

Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments

Yesterday (October 10, 2019), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by a U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in which the lower court had...

Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments