Statute’s Specific Remedy Overrides Rule 37 Discovery Sanctions, Even After Three Failed Medical Exams The Supreme Court of Utah has held that dismissal is not an available sanction for a...
Utah High Court: Suspension, Not Dismissal, Is the Only Sanction for Obstructing an IME Utah High Court: Suspension, Not Dismissal, Is the Only Sanction for Obstructing an IMEPA 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 BreakIdaho 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 FieldRisk-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 ClaimsIn a stinging decision, the Court of Appeals of South Carolina ruled that the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission had abused its discretion in summarily dismissing the appeal by an insurance...
SC Appellate Court Chides Commission for Summarily Dismissing Appeal SC Appellate Court Chides Commission for Summarily Dismissing AppealA divided panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Industrial Commission that had found it lacked jurisdiction to hear a widow’s death...
For Limitations Purposes, a NC Death Claim Cannot Piggy-Back Onto Deceased Employee’s Original Filing For Limitations Purposes, a NC Death Claim Cannot Piggy-Back Onto Deceased Employee’s Original FilingIn an unreported opinion, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed an award of total disability benefits to former police officer for a psychological injury in the form of PTDS, depression,...
PA Police Officer Awarded Benefits for PTSD After “No-Holds-Barred” Meeting PA Police Officer Awarded Benefits for PTSD After “No-Holds-Barred” MeetingIllustrating the substantial barrier that many Oregon claimants contend has been erected via the combination of the state’s “clear and convincing evidence” standard and its “major contributing cause” requirement [see...
Oregon Software Worker Fails to Establish Mental Disorder Claim Oregon Software Worker Fails to Establish Mental Disorder ClaimLaunch the balloons! Break out the kazoos! Almost exactly ten years ago—on December 14, 2011—I posted my first offering on this website (to see it, click here). It discussed a...
Slowly Plods the Tortoise: Workcompwriter Celebrates 1,000 Posts Slowly Plods the Tortoise: Workcompwriter Celebrates 1,000 PostsWhere a Missouri employee was able to work on a full-time, seasonable basis following a second work-related injury, the Missouri Commission did not err in finding that the employee had...
Full-Time, Seasonal Work Sinks Missouri Worker’s Second Injury Fund Claim Full-Time, Seasonal Work Sinks Missouri Worker’s Second Injury Fund ClaimConstruing the “parking lot” exception to the standard going and coming rule, an Oregon appellate court affirmed an award of benefits to a dental hygienist who sustained injuries when she...
Oregon Employee’s Slip and Fall Claim in “Annex Parking Area” Not Barred by Going and Coming Rule Oregon Employee’s Slip and Fall Claim in “Annex Parking Area” Not Barred by Going and Coming RuleA New York appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that denied benefits to a claims examiner who alleged that she had sustained injuries to her...
Waiting 19 Months to Seek Medical Treatment Proves Fatal to NY Claims Examiner’s Case Waiting 19 Months to Seek Medical Treatment Proves Fatal to NY Claims Examiner’s CaseFollowing Tampa Electric Company's motion for rehearing regarding its October 20, 2020 decision, in which Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal had held that the public utility company’s obligation to...
Florida’s Second DCA Reverses Itself; Public Utility Was “Contractor” as to its Maintenance Efforts Florida’s Second DCA Reverses Itself; Public Utility Was “Contractor” as to its Maintenance EffortsAddressing a difficult factual pattern for the second time, the Supreme Court of Alaska affirmed a trial court’s decision that had granted summary judgment in favor of a general contractor...
Alaska Supreme Court Says Estate’s Wrongful Death Action is Barred by Exclusivity Even When Comp Benefits are Limited to Burial Expenses Alaska Supreme Court Says Estate’s Wrongful Death Action is Barred by Exclusivity Even When Comp Benefits are Limited to Burial ExpensesWhere there was a clear discrepancy between the schedule loss of use (SLU) percentage indicated on the face of a surgeon’s C-4.3 form (Doctor’s Report of Maximum Medical Improvement/Permanent Impairment)...
Battle of the Forms: NY Board Abuses Discretion in Failing to Reopen Claim Battle of the Forms: NY Board Abuses Discretion in Failing to Reopen ClaimObserving that Utah has recognized the intentional tort exception to exclusivity in cases falling under the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA), but had not (yet) extended the exception to cases...
Utah High Court Hints that Intentional Tort Exception to Exclusivity Might Not Apply to Occupational Disease Claims Utah High Court Hints that Intentional Tort Exception to Exclusivity Might Not Apply to Occupational Disease Claims
New Comments