Newest Articles

Jun 2, 2026

Maine Supreme Court: Massachusetts Law Strips Staffing Client of Workers’ Compensation Immunity

Court Applies Massachusetts Law to Maine Injury, Rejects Immunity Defense in Multi-State Staffing Arrangement A New Hampshire contractor that likely would have enjoyed workers’ compensation immunity under Maine law lost...

Maine Supreme Court: Massachusetts Law Strips Staffing Client of Workers’ Compensation Immunity Maine Supreme Court: Massachusetts Law Strips Staffing Client of Workers’ Compensation Immunity
Jun 1, 2026

NY High Court Holds JIWA Bars Collateral Estoppel Effect of Pre-Enactment Workers’ Comp Decisions

New York’s Court of Appeals recently affirmed an Appellate Division order blocking defendants in a personal injury action from using a Workers’ Compensation Board causation determination as collateral estoppel, holding...

NY High Court Holds JIWA Bars Collateral Estoppel Effect of Pre-Enactment Workers’ Comp Decisions NY High Court Holds JIWA Bars Collateral Estoppel Effect of Pre-Enactment Workers’ Comp Decisions
May 27, 2026

Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Where Work Injury Delayed Cancer Treatment

In a case involving a Nebraska truck driver-farm laborer whose treatment for metastatic cancer was allegedly postponed by complications associated with a compensable hip injury and its resulting treatment, the...

Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Where Work Injury Delayed Cancer Treatment Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Where Work Injury Delayed Cancer Treatment
May 26, 2026

NC Court of Appeals: Exclusivity Doctrine Bars Negligence Suit Following Workplace Stroke

A North Carolina district manager who suffered a stroke while preparing for the opening of a restaurant location—and who allegedly waited hours before coworkers summoned emergency assistance—may not pursue negligence...

NC Court of Appeals: Exclusivity Doctrine Bars Negligence Suit Following Workplace Stroke NC Court of Appeals: Exclusivity Doctrine Bars Negligence Suit Following Workplace Stroke

All Articles

ARCHIVE
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
Feb 16, 2016

Illinois Court Says Flight Attendant is Not a Traveling Employee While “Commuting”

In what at first blush might appear as a counter-intuitive ruling, an Illinois appellate court has held that a flight attendant who injured her knee on a flight from Denver...

Illinois Court Says Flight Attendant is Not a Traveling Employee While “Commuting” Illinois Court Says Flight Attendant is Not a Traveling Employee While “Commuting”
Feb 3, 2016

2016 Opt Out Legislation: Is it as “Inevitable” as Some Have Hoped/Feared?

I read with great interest Bob Wilson’s post yesterday signaling that the Tennessee Opt Out “initiative” may be DOA this year.  Indeed, I’d been checking Bill Tracking Reports since the...

2016 Opt Out Legislation: Is it as “Inevitable” as Some Have Hoped/Feared? 2016 Opt Out Legislation: Is it as “Inevitable” as Some Have Hoped/Feared?
Jan 28, 2016

Tennessee Nurse’s PTSD Claim Fails In Spite of Flashback to Being Raped As Child

In an opinion not yet designated for publication [see Ireton v. Horizon Mental Health Mgmt., LLC, 2016 Tenn. LEXIS 3 (Jan. 19, 2016), a Tennessee appeals panel affirmed the denial...

Tennessee Nurse’s PTSD Claim Fails In Spite of Flashback to Being Raped As Child Tennessee Nurse’s PTSD Claim Fails In Spite of Flashback to Being Raped As Child
Jan 27, 2016

Valley Fever Plaintiff Fails To Establish Comp Insurance Co.’s Extreme or Outrageous Conduct

Where a Mississippi resident contracted coccidiodomycosis (“Valley Fever”) at a job site in California and had received some indemnity and medical benefits under California’s Workers’ Compensation Act (“the Act”), he...

Valley Fever Plaintiff Fails To Establish Comp Insurance Co.’s Extreme or Outrageous Conduct Valley Fever Plaintiff Fails To Establish Comp Insurance Co.’s Extreme or Outrageous Conduct
Jan 27, 2016

Georgia M.D.’s Medical Report Indicating Claimant Was Threat to Doctor and Staff Not Libelous

Where an patient’s treating physician dictated a narrative report that became part of the patient’s worker’s compensation claim file indicating that the patient, through a translator, had made threatening statements...

Georgia M.D.’s Medical Report Indicating Claimant Was Threat to Doctor and Staff Not Libelous Georgia M.D.’s Medical Report Indicating Claimant Was Threat to Doctor and Staff Not Libelous
Jan 14, 2016

New Mexico Employer Need Not Accommodate Medical Marijuana Use

An employer need not accommodate a New Mexico employee’s use of medical marijuana, even when that use is sanctioned under the state’s Compassionate Use Act (“CUA”), held a federal district...

New Mexico Employer Need Not Accommodate Medical Marijuana Use New Mexico Employer Need Not Accommodate Medical Marijuana Use
Jan 7, 2016

Oregon Court Says Walking to Post Office Isn’t “Recreational” Just Because Employee Enjoyed the Activity

That an office worker enjoyed walking did not transform her trip to the post office during the workday into recreational activity, held an Oregon appellate court recently in Sedgwick Claims...

Oregon Court Says Walking to Post Office Isn’t “Recreational” Just Because Employee Enjoyed the Activity Oregon Court Says Walking to Post Office Isn’t “Recreational” Just Because Employee Enjoyed the Activity
Jan 5, 2016

California Court Uses Firefighter’s Rule to Bar Negligence Action By UPS Driver

Applying the firefighter’s rule, a specialized assumption of risk doctrine under which, in its most classic form, a person who starts a fire is said to owe no duty of...

California Court Uses Firefighter’s Rule to Bar Negligence Action By UPS Driver California Court Uses Firefighter’s Rule to Bar Negligence Action By UPS Driver
Dec 31, 2015

Nebraska Court: Injured Employee Failed to Establish Spinal Cord Stimulator Was Reasonable and Necessary

A Nebraska appellate court, in Yost v. Davita, Inc., 23 Neb. App. 482, 2015 Neb. App. LEXIS 204 (Dec. 29, 2015), affirmed a compensation court’s decision that an employer was...

Nebraska Court: Injured Employee Failed to Establish Spinal Cord Stimulator Was Reasonable and Necessary Nebraska Court: Injured Employee Failed to Establish Spinal Cord Stimulator Was Reasonable and Necessary
Dec 23, 2015

Florida Supreme Court Delivers Coup de Gras to Padgett

In a short—yet stinging—Order issued late yesterday [December 22, 2015], the Supreme Court of Florida declined to accept jurisdiction and accordingly denied a petition for review that had been filed...

Florida Supreme Court Delivers Coup de Gras to Padgett Florida Supreme Court Delivers Coup de Gras to Padgett
Dec 23, 2015

Iowa High Court Says Discovery Rule Applies to Single Trauma Injuries

In Baker v. Bridgestone/Firestone, 2015 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 103 (Dec. 18, 2015), the Supreme Court of Iowa recently held that the discovery rule in workers’ compensation law applies not only...

Iowa High Court Says Discovery Rule Applies to Single Trauma Injuries Iowa High Court Says Discovery Rule Applies to Single Trauma Injuries
Dec 11, 2015

Louisiana: Prescriptive Period Does Not Commence Until Party Has Knowledge of Cause of Action

Applying the “discovery rule” [see Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 126.05], pursuant to which the prescription period may be suspended where the cause of action is not known or reasonably...

Louisiana: Prescriptive Period Does Not Commence Until Party Has Knowledge of Cause of Action Louisiana: Prescriptive Period Does Not Commence Until Party Has Knowledge of Cause of Action

New Comments

  • ramivou: They hid behind a flawed "reading" of this statute for a decade. I am glad the SC finally put an end to the misconception that it was a "first six months only" filing requirement, rather than an ongoing responsibility.
  • trob: Thanks for the query. New York's going and coming doctrine is similar to that in place in the majority of jurisdictions. That is to say that for employees with a fixed place of work and who are on a relatively consistent work schedule, the commute to and from the residence is outside the course and scope of the employment. Often overlooked is the fact that the employee must generally have a fixed ...
  • ramivou: Is coming and going covered in NY?
  • trob: Excellent question. My thought is that the employer was following what it assumed was the typical practice of seeking to protect its "subrogation" interest in state court; in virtually all jurisdictions, the state trial courts are where subrogation issues are litigated. What differed here, of course, was that it wasn't a standard subrogation case, i.e., the employee's work-related injury wasn't ca...
  • ramivou: Why didn't they file it with the state Commission instead?
  • Thomas A. Robinson: I suspect that ACME could seek contractual indemnity, as you note, either from the staffing agency or its carrier. The goal of the Board or agency generally is to see to the proper award of benefits for compensable injuries. Allowing the "aggrieved" parties to sort it out later is completely consistent with the overall theory of workers' compensation. Many thanks for the comment. Best wishes.
  • Barry Stinson: I wonder if Acme's insurer could seek contractural indemnity from Variety's insurer outside of the WC system.
  • Michael C. Duff: The conceptual distinction is between joint causation and presumptive single causation.
  • Thomas A. Robinson: Sorry, I don't/can't provide legal advice. Best wishes, however.
  • Ken Smith: What can I do when my attorney blows my case with an incomplete RB89