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Jan 6, 2025

Iowa Court Affirms Denial of Benefits re: COVID-19 Claim

In Collins v. Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART), 2024 Iowa App. LEXIS 918 (Dec. 18, 2024), the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed denial of workers’ compensation benefits to...

Iowa Court Affirms Denial of Benefits re: COVID-19 Claim Iowa Court Affirms Denial of Benefits re: COVID-19 Claim
Jan 6, 2025

Nebraska COVID-19 Claim Fails For Want of Expert Medical Evidence

In Spisa-Kline v. Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital, 2024 Neb. App. LEXIS 750 (Dec. 31, 2024), the Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the employer in a workers’ compensation...

Nebraska COVID-19 Claim Fails For Want of Expert Medical Evidence Nebraska COVID-19 Claim Fails For Want of Expert Medical Evidence
Dec 31, 2024

Oregon Jaywalker Might Be Awarded Benefits

Appeals Court Examines Going and Coming Rule The Oregon Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded a Workers’ Compensation Board decision that had denied benefits to a worker injured while...

Oregon Jaywalker Might Be Awarded Benefits Oregon Jaywalker Might Be Awarded Benefits
Dec 30, 2024

NC Court of Appeals Reverses $28.9 Million Tort Judgment

Insurer Had No Duty to Defend Intentional Tort Claim Against Co-Employee In Ortez v. Penn Nat’l Sec. Ins. Co., 2024 N.C. App. LEXIS 1017 (Dec. 17, 2024), the North Carolina...

NC Court of Appeals Reverses $28.9 Million Tort Judgment NC Court of Appeals Reverses $28.9 Million Tort Judgment

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Jan 27, 2022

New Mexico Cannot Differentiate Between Secondary Mental Benefits and Secondary Physical Benefits

Capping secondary mental impairment benefits—pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 52-1-41(C)(2015)—to the number of weeks allowable for the worker’s original physical injury [e.g., 150 weeks where the mental injury is secondary...

New Mexico Cannot Differentiate Between Secondary Mental Benefits and Secondary Physical Benefits New Mexico Cannot Differentiate Between Secondary Mental Benefits and Secondary Physical Benefits
Jan 25, 2022

Colorado Court Says Injuries Sustained En Route to Medical Appointment Not Always Compensable

Relying upon the “quasi-course of employment” concept set forth in Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 10.05, a division of the Court of Appeals of Colorado affirmed an order of the...

Colorado Court Says Injuries Sustained En Route to Medical Appointment Not Always Compensable Colorado Court Says Injuries Sustained En Route to Medical Appointment Not Always Compensable
Jan 21, 2022

Establishing “Personal Comfort” Activity Is Only Half the Battle, says OR Court

Stressing that the focus of the personal comfort doctrine was to determine if an employee’s actions occurred during the course of the employment, the Court of Appeals of Oregon held...

Establishing “Personal Comfort” Activity Is Only Half the Battle, says OR Court Establishing “Personal Comfort” Activity Is Only Half the Battle, says OR Court
Jan 20, 2022

NY Court Affirms Award for Flight Attendant’s Allergy to Uniforms

Illustrating that it is for the New York Workers’ Compensation Board to weigh the evidence, even when that evidence has been presented to a law judge hearing the case, a...

NY Court Affirms Award for Flight Attendant’s Allergy to Uniforms NY Court Affirms Award for Flight Attendant’s Allergy to Uniforms
Jan 19, 2022

NJ Librarian’s Parking Lot Injuries When Struck by Snowplow are Compensable

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, reversing a decision of the Superior Court, Appellate Division [see 466 N.J. Super. 160, 245 A.3d 1019 (App. Div. 2021)], found that serious injuries...

NJ Librarian’s Parking Lot Injuries When Struck by Snowplow are Compensable NJ Librarian’s Parking Lot Injuries When Struck by Snowplow are Compensable
Jan 18, 2022

PA Court Agrees Injuries Were Compensable under Personal Comfort Doctrine

Applying the personal comfort doctrine [see Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 21.01, et seq.], pursuant to which small, temporary departures from work to administer to personal comforts or convenience are...

PA Court Agrees Injuries Were Compensable under Personal Comfort Doctrine PA Court Agrees Injuries Were Compensable under Personal Comfort Doctrine
Jan 14, 2022

The Case of the Missing Case

In early January, one can reliably count on at least two things: first, that we’ll be bombarded by television commercials hawking diet aids, and second, that someone in the New...

The Case of the Missing Case The Case of the Missing Case
Jan 13, 2022

Delaware High Court Says Sinkhole Injuries Were Not Compensable

The Supreme Court of Delaware affirmed the denial of workers’ compensation benefits to a courthouse employee who sustained injuries in a sinkhole accident near—but not on the courthouse property [Browning...

Delaware High Court Says Sinkhole Injuries Were Not Compensable Delaware High Court Says Sinkhole Injuries Were Not Compensable
Jan 13, 2022

Opinion Mondays: Is California’s “Posse Law” Passe?

In a case involving an utterly bizarre fact pattern, as well as a legal battle stretching out over the bulk of a decade, the Supreme Court of California, in a 5-2 decision, held that a civil action for negligence and misrepresentation filed by two private citizens against...

Opinion Mondays: Is California’s “Posse Law” Passe? Opinion Mondays: Is California’s “Posse Law” Passe?
Jan 11, 2022

Post-Injury Felony Conviction Not a Factor in Determining PA Employee’s Earning Power

A Pennsylvania WCJ need not consider non-work-related injury limitations that were the result of actions that occurred after the work-related injury as part of a Pennsylvania injured employee’s “residual productive...

Post-Injury Felony Conviction Not a Factor in Determining PA Employee’s Earning Power Post-Injury Felony Conviction Not a Factor in Determining PA Employee’s Earning Power
Jan 10, 2022

NC Court Construes State’s “Injury by Accident” Requirement

Construing N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-2(6), which defines “injury” to mean “only injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment” [emphasis added], the Court of...

NC Court Construes State’s “Injury by Accident” Requirement NC Court Construes State’s “Injury by Accident” Requirement
Jan 6, 2022

The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2021

Copyright 2022. Thomas A. Robinson. All rights reserved. This post may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or format, without the express written consent of...

The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2021 The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2021

New Comments

  • 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...
  • kathlyn gorman: It should have been noted in your discussion that this is an unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Thus, it does not constitute controlling legal authority.
  • Thomas A. Robinson: You're correct. Ordinarily, I can depend upon Alabama to provide me with at least one case for "the List." I'll bet 2022 will unearth something bizarre from the Great State of Alabama. Take care.