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 ClaimsApplying Arkansas’ relatively narrow employment-related rule, which excludes compensation for an injury which was inflicted upon the employee at a time when employment services were not being performed [see Ark....
Arkansas Horse-Racing Employee’s Leap From Burning Stable Was Not Compensable Arkansas Horse-Racing Employee’s Leap From Burning Stable Was Not CompensableObserving that in determining a claimant’s loss of wage-earning capacity, the New York Workers’ Compensation Board may consider claimant’s functional capabilities, as well as vocational issues (claimant’s age, education, training,...
“Odd-Lot”-Like Theory Works in Reverse to Limit Wage Loss Award for NY Claimant “Odd-Lot”-Like Theory Works in Reverse to Limit Wage Loss Award for NY ClaimantIn a decision that illustrates the tremendous breadth of discretion allowed to the New York Workers’ Compensation Board, a state appellate court affirmed a Board decision—in spite of findings by...
NY Board Has Broad Discretion in Reviewing § 114-a Issues NY Board Has Broad Discretion in Reviewing § 114-a IssuesIn a divided decision, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin affirmed a finding by the state’s Court of Appeals that the exclusive remedy provisions of the Wisconsin Workers’ Compensation Act barred...
Employee’s Action Against Employer’s Comp Insurer For Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound Barred by Exclusivity Employee’s Action Against Employer’s Comp Insurer For Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound Barred by ExclusivityEmployment Contract Formed In Illinois In Spite of Contingencies Required for First Assignment in Indiana In an unpublished decision, an Illinois appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’...
Staffing Company’s Should Not Conflate Employment Contract and Specific Assignment Staffing Company’s Should Not Conflate Employment Contract and Specific AssignmentIllustrating the important point that a hearing officer or judge must stick to those matters that are specifically at issue, and not wander off to determine other questions that might...
NY Court Says Law Judge Must Limit Decision to Actual Issue at Hand NY Court Says Law Judge Must Limit Decision to Actual Issue at HandIn Berkebile Towing & Recovery v. Workers’ Comp. Appeal Bd. (Harr), 2021 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 427 (May 10, 2021), the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed a decision by the state’s...
PA Tow Truck Operator Was Employee, Not an Independent Contractor PA Tow Truck Operator Was Employee, Not an Independent ContractorIn an unpublished decision, an Arizona appellate court affirmed a determination by the state’s Industrial Commission that found an employee’s workers’ compensation claim was not compensable because the employee’s injuries...
Arizona Employee’s Idiopathic Fall is Not Compensable Arizona Employee’s Idiopathic Fall is Not CompensableThe Supreme Court of Kentucky, construing the state’s agricultural employee exemption [see Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 342.650(5) and 342.0011(18)], reversed a split decision of the state’s Court of Appeals...
KY Supreme Court Construes Agricultural Employee Exemption KY Supreme Court Construes Agricultural Employee ExemptionA New York appellate court held that while the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board was within its discretion when it found an injured worker had violated N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law §...
NY Claimant Should Not Have Been Permanently Barred From Indemnity Benefits NY Claimant Should Not Have Been Permanently Barred From Indemnity BenefitsPanel Says District Court Abused Discretion Last Wednesday, in California Trucking Ass’n v. Bonta, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 12629 (9th Cir., Apr. 28, 2021), a divided panel of the Ninth...
Split 9th Circuit Panel Overturns Injunction Favoring Golden State Truckers Split 9th Circuit Panel Overturns Injunction Favoring Golden State TruckersProviding a casebook-like discussion of the issues related to a workers’ compensation insurer’s intervention in a third-party civil action, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri held...
Federal Court Allows Comp Insurer to Intervene in Injured Worker’s Third-Party Action Federal Court Allows Comp Insurer to Intervene in Injured Worker’s Third-Party Action
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