In Motors v. Bayly (Red House Motors d/b/a Bayly’s Garage), 2026 Del. LEXIS 92 (Mar. 2, 2026), the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Superior Court decision that the high court...
Delaware Supreme Court Reinstates IAB’s Denial of Sole Proprietor Coverage Delaware Supreme Court Reinstates IAB’s Denial of Sole Proprietor CoverageIn Publix Super Markets, Inc. v. Department of Financial Services, 2026 Fla. App. LEXIS 1469 (Fla. 1st DCA Feb. 25, 2026), the First District Court of Appeal recently held that...
Florida Court Invalidates Rules Expanding “Absolute Choice” Pharmacy Provision Florida Court Invalidates Rules Expanding “Absolute Choice” Pharmacy ProvisionThe Florida First District Court of Appeal has reversed an award of 24-hour attendant care benefits where the only “prescription” supporting the award appeared in an Independent Medical Examiner’s report...
Florida Court: IME Report Is Not a “Prescription” for Attendant Care Florida Court: IME Report Is Not a “Prescription” for Attendant CarePA Supreme Court Addresses Scope of Co-Employee Immunity In Brown v. Gaydos, 2026 Pa. LEXIS 267 (Pa. Feb. 18, 2026), a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s reversal...
Issue Commentary: Where PA Worker’s Injury is Compensable, Does That Automatically Mean Co-Employee is Immune from Tort Liability? Issue Commentary: Where PA Worker’s Injury is Compensable, Does That Automatically Mean Co-Employee is Immune from Tort Liability?An Oregon appellate court recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that concluded claimant’s subsistence and travel pay were “wages” for purposes of determining claimant’s TTD benefits...
Oregon: AWW Must Include “Subsistence Allowance” and Travel Pay for California Brick Mason Oregon: AWW Must Include “Subsistence Allowance” and Travel Pay for California Brick MasonReiterating an important point, that in order to defeat a workers’ compensation claim it is generally insufficient to show that the injured worker was intoxicated at the time of the...
New Hampshire: Intoxication, Without Showing of Causation, Is Insufficient to Defeat Comp Claim New Hampshire: Intoxication, Without Showing of Causation, Is Insufficient to Defeat Comp ClaimNotice of the Texas non-subscribing employer’s occupational injury benefit plan was insufficient by itself to show that an employee had notice of an arbitration agreement referred to therein since the...
Texas: No Arbitration Where Employer Could Not Show Employee Had Notice of Arbitration Agreement Texas: No Arbitration Where Employer Could Not Show Employee Had Notice of Arbitration AgreementThe Supreme Court of Oklahoma recently held that a chiropractor is not qualified as an expert in diagnosing psychological illnesses such as depression. Accordingly, the report of a chiropractor as...
Oklahoma: Chiropractors May Not Offer Expert Testimony as to Psychological Overlay Oklahoma: Chiropractors May Not Offer Expert Testimony as to Psychological OverlayA Colorado appellate court recently held that hotels and restaurants that a workers’ compensation claimant patronized during authorized travel to obtain treatment by a specialist were not “medical providers” as...
Colorado: Hotels and Restaurants Are Not “Medical Providers” Colorado: Hotels and Restaurants Are Not “Medical Providers”In a complex medical malpractice diversity action involving multiple issues, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a federal district court’s judgment on a $7 million verdict in favor...
10th Circuit: Under Collateral Source Rule, Evidence of Discounted Med Pay to Medical Providers By Workers’ Comp Payer May Not Be Considered By Jury 10th Circuit: Under Collateral Source Rule, Evidence of Discounted Med Pay to Medical Providers By Workers’ Comp Payer May Not Be Considered By JurySome years ago, my mentor, Arthur Larson, when commenting upon the issue of deviations within the workplace, wrote that courts generally recognize “that human beings do not run on tracks...
Pennsylvania: 5-Minute Deviation Defeated Workers’ Comp Claim Pennsylvania: 5-Minute Deviation Defeated Workers’ Comp ClaimThe Longshore Act provides that no compensation shall be payable if the injury “was occasioned solely by the intoxication of the employee” [33 U.S.C.S. § 903(c), emphasis added]. The Ninth...
Ninth Circuit Construes Longshore Act’s Intoxication Defense Provisions Ninth Circuit Construes Longshore Act’s Intoxication Defense ProvisionsIn an unpublished decision, Elster v. Fishman, 2013 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 5158 (July 22, 2013) [check Cal. Rules of Court, Rule 8.1115(a) regarding rules related to citation], a California...
California: Legal Secretary’s IIED Claim Against Attorney and Firm Related to Pornographic Emails May Proceed California: Legal Secretary’s IIED Claim Against Attorney and Firm Related to Pornographic Emails May ProceedEggshell Skulls There’s a rule most of us learned early on in the first semester of Torts in law school: that there is ordinarily no allowance for an already weakened...
Note to Employers and Carriers: Don’t Give Up Too Early in Cases Involving Preexisting Disease or Condition Note to Employers and Carriers: Don’t Give Up Too Early in Cases Involving Preexisting Disease or ConditionYesterday (July 2), Governor Jay Nixon vetoed legislation [Senate Bill 34] that would have permitted created a state-run database system that would have contained basic information about workers’ compensation claims...
Missouri Governor Vetoes Bill That Would Have Established State-Wide Database of Comp Claims (and Claimants) Missouri Governor Vetoes Bill That Would Have Established State-Wide Database of Comp Claims (and Claimants)The Supreme Court of Vermont, in a split decision, recently held that while the AMA Guides (5th Ed.) are determinative with respect to “any determination of the existence and degree...
Vermont: AMA Guides Are Mandatory for Impairment Rating Purposes–Not Diagnosis of Condition Itself Vermont: AMA Guides Are Mandatory for Impairment Rating Purposes–Not Diagnosis of Condition Itself
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