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Apr 17, 2025

Throwback Thursday: O’Leary v. Brown-Pacific-Maxon, Inc. (U.S., 1951)

Introduction In 1951, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in O’Leary v. Brown-Pacific-Maxon, Inc., 340 U.S. 504, 71 S.Ct. 470, 95 L.Ed.483 (1951). The case involved a claim...

Throwback Thursday: O’Leary v. Brown-Pacific-Maxon, Inc. (U.S., 1951) Throwback Thursday: O’Leary v. Brown-Pacific-Maxon, Inc. (U.S., 1951)
Apr 15, 2025

Arkansas Court Denies Benefits to Good Samaritan Band Director

In a ruling that reaffirms Arkansas’ strict interpretation of its “employment services” requirement, the state’s Court of Appeals recently affirmed a Workers’ Compensation Commission decision denying benefits to the family...

Arkansas Court Denies Benefits to Good Samaritan Band Director Arkansas Court Denies Benefits to Good Samaritan Band Director
Apr 14, 2025

Louisiana Court Rejects “Borrowed Employee” Theory in Workplace Attack

In a decision that further defines the barriers to pursuing civil remedies in workplace injury cases within the Louisiana, a state appellant court recently affirmed summary a trial court judgment...

Louisiana Court Rejects “Borrowed Employee” Theory in Workplace Attack Louisiana Court Rejects “Borrowed Employee” Theory in Workplace Attack
Apr 10, 2025

Throwback Thursday: Hawk v. Jim Hawk Chevrolet-Buick, Inc., 282 N.W.2d 84 (Iowa 1979)

Background On September 28, 1973, at approximately 2:30 a.m., James Hawk II, the president, sole stockholder, and chief operating officer of Jim Hawk Chevrolet-Buick, Inc., died when his private airplane...

Throwback Thursday: Hawk v. Jim Hawk Chevrolet-Buick, Inc., 282 N.W.2d 84 (Iowa 1979) Throwback Thursday: Hawk v. Jim Hawk Chevrolet-Buick, Inc., 282 N.W.2d 84 (Iowa 1979)

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Dec 18, 2013

Board Lacks Subject Matter Jurisdiction Where Former WBNA Player Involved in Only One Game During 34-Game Career

A former basketball player in the Women’s National Basketball Association, who never resided in California, played just one of her 34-game career within the state, and who suffered no specific...

Board Lacks Subject Matter Jurisdiction Where Former WBNA Player Involved in Only One Game During 34-Game Career Board Lacks Subject Matter Jurisdiction Where Former WBNA Player Involved in Only One Game During 34-Game Career
Dec 17, 2013

Oklahoma High Court Rejects Initial Challenge to Opt Out Law

Yesterday (December 16), the Supreme Court of Oklahoma rejected an initial constitutional challenge to the controversial overhaul of the state’s workers’ compensation system via Senate Bill 1062, which allows, among...

Oklahoma High Court Rejects Initial Challenge to Opt Out Law Oklahoma High Court Rejects Initial Challenge to Opt Out Law
Nov 18, 2013

Iowa: Undocumented Workers Are Protected by the Workers’ Compensation Act

The Supreme Court of Iowa recently held in relevant part that undocumented workers are not excluded from the Workers’ Compensation Act’s definition of “employee” and that the contract of employment...

Iowa: Undocumented Workers Are Protected by the Workers’ Compensation Act Iowa: Undocumented Workers Are Protected by the Workers’ Compensation Act
Nov 2, 2013

“Mental-Mental” Claims: Within Which Category Does West Virginia Fall?

As you may know, later this month (Nov. 20–22), attorneys, academics, claims managers, risk consultants, and others will gather at the 22nd Annual National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference &...

“Mental-Mental” Claims: Within Which Category Does West Virginia Fall? “Mental-Mental” Claims: Within Which Category Does West Virginia Fall?
Oct 25, 2013

Florida: First DCA Certifies Constitutional Question After Affirming $165 Fee for 107 Hours of Work

Reluctantly affirming a decision by a Judge of Compensation Claims that had awarded claimant’s counsel an attorney’s fee of only $164.54 for 107.2 hours of legal work reasonably necessary to...

Florida: First DCA Certifies Constitutional Question After Affirming $165 Fee for 107 Hours of Work Florida: First DCA Certifies Constitutional Question After Affirming $165 Fee for 107 Hours of Work
Oct 24, 2013

Virginia: Self-Treatment by Rehab Professor Nixes Benefits for Subsequent Injuries

While Scripture may say, “Physician, heal thyself” [Luke 4:23, King James Version], that advice should apparently be avoided by professors of rehabilitation counseling. In a case replete with irony, the...

Virginia: Self-Treatment by Rehab Professor Nixes Benefits for Subsequent Injuries Virginia: Self-Treatment by Rehab Professor Nixes Benefits for Subsequent Injuries
Oct 23, 2013

Illinois: Excess Coverage Policies Enjoy Same Exclusion From Guaranty Fund “Cap” on Payment as Primary Coverage Policies

Like every other state, Illinois has established an insolvent insurance fund–the Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund–that steps in, under appropriate circumstances, to pay claims when an insurance company authorized to transact...

Illinois: Excess Coverage Policies Enjoy Same Exclusion From Guaranty Fund “Cap” on Payment as Primary Coverage Policies Illinois: Excess Coverage Policies Enjoy Same Exclusion From Guaranty Fund “Cap” on Payment as Primary Coverage Policies
Oct 21, 2013

Pennsylvania: Massage Therapy By LPN Held to be Compensable Expense

A Pennsylvania appellate court, reversing a decision of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, recently held that since a licensed practical nurse (LPN) was a “health care provider” under §...

Pennsylvania: Massage Therapy By LPN Held to be Compensable Expense Pennsylvania: Massage Therapy By LPN Held to be Compensable Expense
Oct 15, 2013

Wyoming: Employee’s Intentional Tort Action Against Supervisors Fails

Construing the intentional injury exception to the exclusive remedy provisions of the Wyoming Workers’ Compensation Act [Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 27–14–104(a) (LexisNexis 2013)], the state’s Supreme Court recently affirmed a...

Wyoming: Employee’s Intentional Tort Action Against Supervisors Fails Wyoming: Employee’s Intentional Tort Action Against Supervisors Fails
Oct 13, 2013

Louisiana: Boilermaker’s 39-Day Work Schedule, With One Day Off, Found to Cause Stroke

In Louisiana, when an employee seeks to recover workers’ compensation benefits for a heart-related or perivascular injury, he or she must prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that: (i) The...

Louisiana: Boilermaker’s 39-Day Work Schedule, With One Day Off, Found to Cause Stroke Louisiana: Boilermaker’s 39-Day Work Schedule, With One Day Off, Found to Cause Stroke
Oct 8, 2013

U.S. Supreme Court Will Not Hear Hutterite Colony’s Religious Exclusion Argument

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court indicated that it would not hear a Montana Hutterite Colony’s argument that a 2009 amendment to a state statute [§ 39–71–307, MCA] violated the...

U.S. Supreme Court Will Not Hear Hutterite Colony’s Religious Exclusion Argument U.S. Supreme Court Will Not Hear Hutterite Colony’s Religious Exclusion Argument
Oct 1, 2013

Alabama: Work-Product Rule Protects Post-Injury Accident Report from Discovery

Last Friday, a divided Supreme Court of Alabama, applying the work-product rule, determined that a post-accident investigation report, conducted and prepared by an employer’s safety director and a co-worker and...

Alabama: Work-Product Rule Protects Post-Injury Accident Report from Discovery Alabama: Work-Product Rule Protects Post-Injury Accident Report from Discovery

New Comments

  • 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
  • Thomas A. Robinson: Good point, although the interesting thing about the case--at least to me--is that it discusses the important "injury by accident" issue. That issue, present in at least a plurality of state acts, is largely ignored by Commissions, Boards, and Courts these days. Here, also, the case was so fact-specific that even it had been issued as published, it would be factually distinguishable from many othe...