Driscoll Agrees with the Larson Standard, Then Affirms Without Needing It The Iowa Court of Appeals has affirmed the denial of workers’ compensation benefits to a city employee who developed...
Issue Commentary: Iowa Looks at Vaccine‑Injury Compensability—and Leaves the Real Question for Another Day Issue Commentary: Iowa Looks at Vaccine‑Injury Compensability—and Leaves the Real Question for Another DayDriscoll Agrees with the Larson Standard, Then Affirms Without Needing It The Iowa Court of Appeals has affirmed the denial of workers’ compensation benefits to a city employee who developed...
Issue Commentary: Iowa Looks at Vaccine‑Injury Compensability—and Leaves the Real Question for Another Day Issue Commentary: Iowa Looks at Vaccine‑Injury Compensability—and Leaves the Real Question for Another DayIn *Sairafianpour v. Loudoun County Public Schools*, 2026 Va. App. LEXIS 430 (Aug. 11, 2026), the Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed a Workers’ Compensation Commission decision awarding medical benefits...
VA: One Basket, Two Injuries—and Only One Compensable Accident VA: One Basket, Two Injuries—and Only One Compensable AccidentIn Granite School District v. Young, 2026 UT 29, 2026 Utah LEXIS 113 (Aug. 13, 2026), the Utah Supreme Court affirmed an award of permanent total disability benefits to a...
UT Supreme Court Affirms PTD Award—and Rejects Employer’s Claim to Employee’s Debt-Collection Settlement UT Supreme Court Affirms PTD Award—and Rejects Employer’s Claim to Employee’s Debt-Collection SettlementAppellate Division of Maine’s Comp Board Orders Two Employers to Reimburse Workers for Treatment Costs In two separate decisions, the Appellate Division of Maine’s Workers’ Compensation Board recently affirmed two...
Medical Marijuana: Reasonable and Necessary Medical Treatment for Pain? Medical Marijuana: Reasonable and Necessary Medical Treatment for Pain?Earlier today (September 13, 2016), in Vasquez v. Dillard’s, Inc., 2016 OK 89, in a 7–2 decision, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, in one of the most important workers’ compensation...
Oklahoma Supreme Court Strikes Down State’s Opt Out Law Oklahoma Supreme Court Strikes Down State’s Opt Out LawIllustrating the deep—and sometimes bitter—divide between some who espouse clinically oriented medical treatment and others that promote the so-called “best practices” guidelines outlined in evidence-based medicine (EBM), a Special Workers’...
510 Pills Per Month With Little Improvement: Tennessee High Court Allows Change of Physician 510 Pills Per Month With Little Improvement: Tennessee High Court Allows Change of PhysicianEarlier today, the Supreme Court of Connecticut released a decision holding that a widow’s bystander emotional distress action filed against her deceased husband’s employer is barred by the exclusive remedy...
Connecticut High Court: Widow’s Bystander Emotional Distress Action Barred by Exclusivity Connecticut High Court: Widow’s Bystander Emotional Distress Action Barred by ExclusivityIn a split decision, the Supreme Court of Ohio held that compensability of the alleged underlying injury is not a required element in a retaliatory discharge action under Ohio Rev....
Ohio High Court Says Injury is Not Required to Support Retaliatory Discharge Claim Ohio High Court Says Injury is Not Required to Support Retaliatory Discharge ClaimDecision Continues Long National Trend to Treat Farm Workers on Par With Other Employees A provision of the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) [N.M. Stat. Ann. § 52–1–6(A) (2015)]...
New Mexico High Court Strikes Down Farm and Ranch Laborer Exclusion New Mexico High Court Strikes Down Farm and Ranch Laborer ExclusionEarlier today (June 9, 2016), a divided Supreme Court of Florida rendered its long-awaited decision in Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg [No. SC13–1976], striking down as unconstitutional the state’s...
Florida High Court Strikes Down 104-Week Limitation on TTD Benefits Florida High Court Strikes Down 104-Week Limitation on TTD BenefitsA recent federal district court decision from Oregon, Kwiecinski v. Medi-Tech International Corp., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72453 (D. Or., June 3, 2016), provides an important practice point not only...
Cautionary Tale: Retaliatory Discharge Statute May Not Protect Employee if Original Comp Claim Was Filed in Another State Cautionary Tale: Retaliatory Discharge Statute May Not Protect Employee if Original Comp Claim Was Filed in Another StateThe Oklahoma legislature adjourned last Friday (May 27, 2016), without resolving a bill that would have amended several troublesome provisions of the state’s controversial Employee Injury Benefit Act (“opt out”...
Oklahoma Legislature Can’t Agree on Opt Out Fix Oklahoma Legislature Can’t Agree on Opt Out FixPart of SSDI’s Fiscal Weakness Tied to Cost Shifting from Workers’ Compensation In an important recent paper, Professor John Burton and his colleague, Steve Guo, argue that significant fiscal improvements...
Does Long-Term Strength of the SSDI Trust Fund Depend Upon Changes to State Workers’ Comp Programs? Does Long-Term Strength of the SSDI Trust Fund Depend Upon Changes to State Workers’ Comp Programs?The 2013 Oklahoma workers’ compensation “reforms” 2013 Senate Bill 1062 which, among other things, created the state’s uber-controversial “Opt Out” arrangement, in which employers can jettison the entire state-run system...
Oklahoma Supreme Court Lands Yet Another Body Blow to State’s Controversial Opt Out Law Oklahoma Supreme Court Lands Yet Another Body Blow to State’s Controversial Opt Out LawA bill [S. 2506] introduced on February 4, 2016, by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), would, if passed into law, appear to invalidate a core provision found in most Texas workers’...
Leahy Bill in U.S. Senate Could Kill Key Provision in Texas Nonsubscriber ERISA Plans Leahy Bill in U.S. Senate Could Kill Key Provision in Texas Nonsubscriber ERISA Plans
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