Many disputes over physician choice in workers’ compensation arise when an injured worker seeks treatment from a doctor of his or her own choosing. Hayes v. Christian Retirement Homes, Inc.,...
Iowa Supreme Court: Employer Not Bound by Opinion of Its Own Treating Physician Iowa Supreme Court: Employer Not Bound by Opinion of Its Own Treating PhysicianCourt Applies Massachusetts Law to Maine Injury, Rejects Immunity Defense in Multi-State Staffing Arrangement A New Hampshire contractor that likely would have enjoyed workers’ compensation immunity under Maine law lost...
Maine Supreme Court: Massachusetts Law Strips Staffing Client of Workers’ Compensation Immunity Maine Supreme Court: Massachusetts Law Strips Staffing Client of Workers’ Compensation ImmunityNew York’s Court of Appeals recently affirmed an Appellate Division order blocking defendants in a personal injury action from using a Workers’ Compensation Board causation determination as collateral estoppel, holding...
NY High Court Holds JIWA Bars Collateral Estoppel Effect of Pre-Enactment Workers’ Comp Decisions NY High Court Holds JIWA Bars Collateral Estoppel Effect of Pre-Enactment Workers’ Comp DecisionsIn a case involving a Nebraska truck driver-farm laborer whose treatment for metastatic cancer was allegedly postponed by complications associated with a compensable hip injury and its resulting treatment, the...
Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Where Work Injury Delayed Cancer Treatment Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Where Work Injury Delayed Cancer TreatmentWhere, after his work-related injury, a New York employee returned to light work for a different employer and then was laid off due to cutbacks related to the COVID-19 pandemic,...
Light-Duty NY Worker Gets No Reduced Earnings Benefits Following COVID-19 Cutbacks Light-Duty NY Worker Gets No Reduced Earnings Benefits Following COVID-19 CutbacksStressing that it is for the New York Workers’ Compensation Board to weigh the evidence—including the medical evidence—and that the Board’s findings will be upheld if supported by substantial evidence,...
Ex Parte Letter to Treating Physician Sinks NY Truck Driver’s Occupational Disease Claim Ex Parte Letter to Treating Physician Sinks NY Truck Driver’s Occupational Disease ClaimIn a case arising out of a tragic and bizarre 2017 multiple-shooting incident at a New York hospital, a state appellate court reversed a decision of the Empire State’s Workers’...
Mass Shooting Victim’s NY Civil Action May Move Forward Against Employer Mass Shooting Victim’s NY Civil Action May Move Forward Against EmployerYesterday, a Florida appellate court held the state’s Workers’ Compensation Code (Code) does not authorize a Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) to strike a physician authorized by the Employer/Carrier (E/C)...
Florida JCC May Not Strike Authorized Physician Because of Fee Dispute Florida JCC May Not Strike Authorized Physician Because of Fee DisputeSubstantial evidence supported the New York Workers’ Compensation Board’s determination that a claimant, a bus driver, had not sustained an injury arising out of and in the course of his...
Bus Camera Video Sinks NY City Driver’s Back Injury Claim Bus Camera Video Sinks NY City Driver’s Back Injury ClaimIn the continuing battle in Kansas over the use of the Sixth Edition of the American Medical Association (AMA) Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, a divided Court of...
Battle Continues in Kansas Over Use of 6th Edition of AMA Guides Battle Continues in Kansas Over Use of 6th Edition of AMA GuidesIn a divided decision, a New York appellate court held that where a Manpower, Inc. temporary worker was assigned to conduct inventory control at a pharmaceutical plant operated by two...
Judicial Estoppel Bars NY Defendants’ Exclusive Remedy Defense Judicial Estoppel Bars NY Defendants’ Exclusive Remedy DefenseAcknowledging that a trial court in a declaratory action had fixed the injured employee’s total damages in his third-party tort claim at almost $2 million, designating $1,500,000 of that total...
PA Employer’s Right to Subrogation is “Absolute” PA Employer’s Right to Subrogation is “Absolute”The exclusive remedy provisions of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act (Act)—820 ILCS 305/5(a), 11— do not extend to a general contractor who paid workers’ compensation insurance premiums and benefits for...
IL Contractor Who Provides Coverage for Subcontractor’s Workers Not Immune From Suit IL Contractor Who Provides Coverage for Subcontractor’s Workers Not Immune From SuitCapping 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 BenefitsRelying 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 CompensableStressing 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
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