Newest Articles

Jul 16, 2026

Personal Comfort Doctrine Reaches a Formal, Unpaid Break

PA Court Finds a 15-Minute Break’s Brevity Outweighs Its Formality The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently affirmed an award of workers’ compensation benefits to a pharmacy technician struck by a...

Personal Comfort Doctrine Reaches a Formal, Unpaid Break Personal Comfort Doctrine Reaches a Formal, Unpaid Break
Jul 14, 2026

Trucker’s Retaliation Claim Runs Aground in His Own Hay Field

Idaho Federal Court Finds Surveillance and a Full-Duty Release Defeat Workers' Comp Retaliatory Discharge Claim The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho recently granted summary judgment for a...

Trucker’s Retaliation Claim Runs Aground in His Own Hay Field Trucker’s Retaliation Claim Runs Aground in His Own Hay Field
Jul 13, 2026

FL High Court Rejects Motive Requirement for Workplace Assault Claims

Risk-Exposure Evidence Alone Can Establish the Causal Link, Justices Hold Last Thursday, In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Muñiz, the Supreme Court of Florida held that a workplace assault...

FL High Court Rejects Motive Requirement for Workplace Assault Claims FL High Court Rejects Motive Requirement for Workplace Assault Claims
Jul 8, 2026

KY Court Revives Tort Claims From Mayfield Candle Factory Tornado Deaths

Supervisors Who Allegedly Blocked Exits Fell Outside the Workers’ Comp Act’s Exclusive Remedy The Kentucky Court of Appeals has revived tort claims brought by survivors of the December 2021 tornado...

KY Court Revives Tort Claims From Mayfield Candle Factory Tornado Deaths KY Court Revives Tort Claims From Mayfield Candle Factory Tornado Deaths

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Apr 2, 2015

Federal Court Must Sever and Remand Oklahoma Retaliatory Discharge Claim

On Tuesday, a federal district court in Oklahoma, noting that claims arising under the workers’ compensation laws of any state are not removable under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1445(c), held that...

Federal Court Must Sever and Remand Oklahoma Retaliatory Discharge Claim Federal Court Must Sever and Remand Oklahoma Retaliatory Discharge Claim
Apr 1, 2015

New York: Apportionment Inappropriate Where 1981 Injury Remained Symptomatic But Was Not Disabling

Where Claimant sustained a severe sprain to his right shoulder while working as a police officer in 1981 and returned to work without any schedule of loss (“SLU”) or other...

New York: Apportionment Inappropriate Where 1981 Injury Remained Symptomatic But Was Not Disabling New York: Apportionment Inappropriate Where 1981 Injury Remained Symptomatic But Was Not Disabling
Mar 31, 2015

New York: Long-Term Exposure to Cold Found Insufficient to Support Occupational Disease Claim

A state park grounds-keeper, who worked outside—often in cold conditions—for more than 35 years, and who developed a diabetic ulceration with a secondary formation of osteomyelitis—an infection in a bone...

New York: Long-Term Exposure to Cold Found Insufficient to Support Occupational Disease Claim New York: Long-Term Exposure to Cold Found Insufficient to Support Occupational Disease Claim
Mar 30, 2015

Pennsylvania Nurse Due Partial Benefits Because of Allergy to Hospital Floor Wax

Where a registered nurse suffered multiple allergic attacks caused by exposure to a chemical component of a floor wax product used by the hospital employing her, she was entitled to...

Pennsylvania Nurse Due Partial Benefits Because of Allergy to Hospital Floor Wax Pennsylvania Nurse Due Partial Benefits Because of Allergy to Hospital Floor Wax
Mar 24, 2015

Surveillance Video Sinks Ohio Claimant’s Odd-Lot Claim

Surveillance video spanning a period of almost three years that showed that the claimant, a former dockworker and truck driver, engaged in numerous physical activities, including riding a motorcycle, attending...

Surveillance Video Sinks Ohio Claimant’s Odd-Lot Claim Surveillance Video Sinks Ohio Claimant’s Odd-Lot Claim
Mar 23, 2015

South Carolina Supreme Court Says Exotic Dancer Was an Employee of Nightclub

In a split decision, the Supreme Court of South Carolina, reversing a majority decision by the state’s Court of Appeals, held that an exotic dancer was an employee—not an independent...

South Carolina Supreme Court Says Exotic Dancer Was an Employee of Nightclub South Carolina Supreme Court Says Exotic Dancer Was an Employee of Nightclub
Mar 20, 2015

Sunny Greetings from Isle of Palms, SC

Earlier today I had the pleasure of speaking at a “Spring Seminar” sponsored by Injured Workers’ Advocates, a group of South Carolina claimants’ attorneys who have gathered at the Isle...

Sunny Greetings from Isle of Palms, SC Sunny Greetings from Isle of Palms, SC
Mar 18, 2015

Colorado Employer and Carrier Need Not Disclose if They Made Gifts to State Comp Judges

A Colorado workers’ compensation insurer and an employer’s counsel need not respond to a discovery request made by a workers’ compensation claimant that they disclose whether any of them had...

Colorado Employer and Carrier Need Not Disclose if They Made Gifts to State Comp Judges Colorado Employer and Carrier Need Not Disclose if They Made Gifts to State Comp Judges
Mar 12, 2015

Juries Will Decide if Uber and Lyft Drivers are Employees

Supplementing my earlier post, in separate rulings yesterday, both Uber and Lyft failed to satisfy United States District Court judges that their drivers are independent contractors and not employees [see...

Juries Will Decide if Uber and Lyft Drivers are Employees Juries Will Decide if Uber and Lyft Drivers are Employees
Mar 11, 2015

MN High Court Gives Math Lesson to Lower Court: “2/3 Does Not Equal 1/2”

Holding that the factual findings of a workers’ compensation judge were “self-contradictory,” the Supreme Court of Minnesota has, for the second time, reversed and remanded an award of benefits to...

MN High Court Gives Math Lesson to Lower Court: “2/3 Does Not Equal 1/2” MN High Court Gives Math Lesson to Lower Court: “2/3 Does Not Equal 1/2”
Mar 10, 2015

Tell-Tale Web Page on Employee’s Blackberry Spells Doom for South Dakota Comp Claim

An employee’s injuries sustained in a one-car auto accident while he drove down a dead-end road some 2.5 miles from his office did not arise out of and in the...

Tell-Tale Web Page on Employee’s Blackberry Spells Doom for South Dakota Comp Claim Tell-Tale Web Page on Employee’s Blackberry Spells Doom for South Dakota Comp Claim
Mar 3, 2015

Chicago Plumbing Inspector’s Trip & Fall on Street Curb is Compensable

A City of Chicago plumbing inspector, whose duties required him to travel throughout the city by car to inspect the plumbing in both residential and commercial buildings, sustained an injury...

Chicago Plumbing Inspector’s Trip & Fall on Street Curb is Compensable Chicago Plumbing Inspector’s Trip & Fall on Street Curb is Compensable

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