LA Fourth Circuit, 3–2, Holds Dump-Truck Driver Paid 25% of Truck Earnings Was an Employee Despite 1099; Dissent Invokes Manifest-Error Review The Louisiana Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit recently reversed...
Louisiana Court: Paid a Percentage, Still an Employee Louisiana Court: Paid a Percentage, Still an EmployeeKY Supreme Court Holds the Statutory Presumption Against Recovery for Intoxicating Substances Does Not Apply to Alcohol The Kentucky Supreme Court has affirmed benefits for a traffic flagger who was...
Alcohol Falls Outside KY’s Presumption of Causation Alcohol Falls Outside KY’s Presumption of CausationFL First DCA Holds Harlem’s Narrow “Heart Disease” Definition Does Not Bar a Firefighter’s Arrhythmia Claim Under the Heart-Lung Presumption Florida’s First District Court of Appeal has affirmed an award...
The Heart Has Wiring, Too The Heart Has Wiring, TooOregon Court Applies New Claim-Closure Requirements to Case Pending on Judicial Review The Oregon Court of Appeals has held that 2022 amendments limiting retroactive “medically stationary” determinations apply to a...
“Closed” Under Old Rules, Reprocessed Under New “Closed” Under Old Rules, Reprocessed Under NewLent Employees and the Boundary of the Employment Relationship In the long and sometimes tangled history of American workers’ compensation law, few issues generate more uncertainty—and more litigation—than lent employment....
Throwback Thursday: Kowalski v. Shell Oil Co. (Cal. 1979) Throwback Thursday: Kowalski v. Shell Oil Co. (Cal. 1979)In a decision released earlier this week, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania drew a firm jurisdictional line in a billing dispute that grew out of a utilization review determination. In...
Pennsylvania Pharmacy May Not be Joined as Party in Comp Case Pennsylvania Pharmacy May Not be Joined as Party in Comp CaseFavorable Ruling by NY High Court Cannot Support Employer’s Reopening Request In Matter of Coyle v. W & W Steel Erectors LLC, 2025 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2889 (3d Dept....
Final Means Final—Even When the Law Changes Final Means Final—Even When the Law ChangesImported Quarrels and the Boundaries of Employment Risk In Bridges v. Elite, Inc., 212 S.C. 514, 48 S.E.2d 497 (S.C. 1948), the Supreme Court of South Carolina reversed a decision...
Throwback Thursday: Bridges v. Elite, Inc. (S.C. 1948) Throwback Thursday: Bridges v. Elite, Inc. (S.C. 1948)Construing an exception to New York’s cap on permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits [see N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law, § 35(3)], which allows—in certain situations—reclassification of the claimant’s disability to permanent...
NY Court Clarifies When Financial Hardship Justifies Total Disability NY Court Clarifies When Financial Hardship Justifies Total DisabilityIn a decision reemphasizing the boundaries of compensability for commuting injuries, the California Court of Appeal (Third Appellate District) has annulled a WCAB award awarding workers’ compensation benefits to a...
California Court Reverses WCAB’s Award for Carpool Injuries Sustained During Commute California Court Reverses WCAB’s Award for Carpool Injuries Sustained During CommuteRefusal of Life-Saving Treatment Within Workers’ Compensation Context In Martin v. Industrial Accident Commission, 147 Cal. App. 2d 137, 304 P.2d 828 (Cal. Ct. App. 1956), the California Court of...
Throwback Thursday: Martin v. Industrial Accident Commission (1956) Throwback Thursday: Martin v. Industrial Accident Commission (1956)In a decision underscoring the rigid statutory structure governing death benefits in workers’ compensation law, the Arkansas Court of Appeals recently affirmed the denial of benefits to the parents of...
Arkansas Court Enforces Strict Dependency Hierarchy Despite Estrangement Arkansas Court Enforces Strict Dependency Hierarchy Despite EstrangementIn Diaz Arriola v. Coleman, 2025 Ga. App. LEXIS 161 (Apr. 24, 2025), the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of an injured employee’s assigned negligence and breach of...
Georgia Court Blocks Assigned Negligence Claim Over Lapsed Workers’ Compensation Coverage Georgia Court Blocks Assigned Negligence Claim Over Lapsed Workers’ Compensation CoverageThe Hawai’i Supreme Court recently held that a tenant who performed maintenance work on rental property, in exchange for reduced rent and occasional payment, was an employee—not a volunteer—and accordingly...
Hawaii Supreme Court Clarifies Employee Status in Workers’ Compensation Context Hawaii Supreme Court Clarifies Employee Status in Workers’ Compensation ContextThe Rise of the Odd-Lot Doctrine In the world of workers’ compensation, some of the most influential doctrines arise not from statutory overhaul or regulatory edict, but from judicial insight...
Throwback Thursday: Lee v. Minneapolis Street Railway Co. (1950) Throwback Thursday: Lee v. Minneapolis Street Railway Co. (1950)Reverses Factual Findings Where Evidence Was in Deposition Form In a split decision, the South Dakota Supreme Court reversed—in relevant part—a Department of Labor determination that had ruled a claimant’s...
SD Supreme Court Weighs Conflicting Medical Evidence SD Supreme Court Weighs Conflicting Medical Evidence
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