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 TreatmentOCGA § 34-9-11.1, Georgia’s statute that gives the insurer (or employer) the right to “assert the employee’s cause of action in tort” against a third party or parties if the...
Subrogated Georgia Insurer Has No Fiduciary Duty to Protect Injured Employee’s Interests Subrogated Georgia Insurer Has No Fiduciary Duty to Protect Injured Employee’s InterestsIn two companion decisions, a divided Supreme Court of Minnesota held that the state’s Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA) lacks jurisdiction to decide whether federal law preempts Minnesota law...
MN Supreme Court Says No to Mandatory Reimbursement for Medical Marijuana MN Supreme Court Says No to Mandatory Reimbursement for Medical MarijuanaIn a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, adopted the “chain-of-causation test” for suicides and affirmed a decision by the state’s Compensation Appeals Board (CAB) that...
New Hampshire High Court Adopts “Chain-of-Causation Test” for Suicides New Hampshire High Court Adopts “Chain-of-Causation Test” for SuicidesThe New York Workers’ Compensation Board was within its powers when it found an injured worker had violated N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 114-a, by failing to disclose on an...
Failure of Injured NY Worker to Disclose Auto Accident to IME Physician Results in Loss of Benefits Failure of Injured NY Worker to Disclose Auto Accident to IME Physician Results in Loss of BenefitsDespite the fact that a workers’ compensation insurer was aware of an injured worker’s third-party action against the driver of a motor vehicle, and even received and accepted more than...
NY Worker Barred From Future Benefits Even After Paying Comp Insurer $63K From Settlement Proceeds NY Worker Barred From Future Benefits Even After Paying Comp Insurer $63K From Settlement ProceedsW. Va. Code 23-4-15(a), which requires workers’ compensation claims to be filed within six months from and after the date of injury or death, as the case may be, is...
West Virginia Court Stresses Six-Month Statute of Limitations is Strictly Construed West Virginia Court Stresses Six-Month Statute of Limitations is Strictly ConstruedWhere a Florida workers’ compensation claimant disagreed with the medical opinion of the employer/carrier’s authorized physician, sought a one-time change in physicians pursuant to § 440.13(2)(f), Fla. Stat., saw a...
Florida JCC Errs in Failing to Appoint EMA to Resolve Medical Dispute Florida JCC Errs in Failing to Appoint EMA to Resolve Medical DisputeA Wisconsin appellate court held that a deceased worker’s automobile insurance carrier, which had written a policy that included underinsured motorist’s (UIM) limits of $250,000, may only reduce its coverage...
Wisconsin Court Says UIM Carrier May Not Deduct Comp Benefits Subject to Subrogation Lien Wisconsin Court Says UIM Carrier May Not Deduct Comp Benefits Subject to Subrogation LienAn Ohio appellate court recently reversed a state Commission’s decision that had awarded TTD benefits to an employee who gave his employer a two-week notice that she intended to leave...
Ohio Claimant Disqualified from TTD Because She Gave Two-Week Notice Four Days Before Injury Ohio Claimant Disqualified from TTD Because She Gave Two-Week Notice Four Days Before InjuryIn an unpublished decision, an Illinois appellate court reversed a decision of a county circuit court confirming an award of workers’ compensation benefits by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission on...
Illinois Court Nixes Jurisdiction When Injury and Employment Contract Were in Indiana Illinois Court Nixes Jurisdiction When Injury and Employment Contract Were in IndianaThe Supreme Court of South Dakota recently affirmed a trial court’s decision that granted summary judgment to a municipality and a volunteer fire department on the basis that the department’s...
South Dakota Court “Borrows” Going and Coming Rule for Negligence Action South Dakota Court “Borrows” Going and Coming Rule for Negligence ActionStressing that a claimant’s “injury” and “impairment” are not necessarily equivalents, an Iowa appellate court affirmed a determination that an injured worker was entitled to permanent partial disability benefits; he...
Iowa Court Affirms PPD Award Where Effects of Knee Injury Extended Beyond the Leg Iowa Court Affirms PPD Award Where Effects of Knee Injury Extended Beyond the Leg
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