A South Carolina employee alleged that his manager threatened him, accused him of dishonesty, called the police, suspended him, and ultimately fired him. He then sued his employer for negligent...
South Carolina’s Mental-Injury Paradox South Carolina’s Mental-Injury ParadoxMany 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 DecisionsA Louisiana appellate court affirmed an award of indemnity benefits, medical expenses, $6,000 in penalties, and $9,500 in attorney’s fees to a foreman who sustained two heat exhaustion episodes in...
Louisiana Foreman Awarded Benefits for Heat Exhaustion in Spite of Co-Morbid Condition Louisiana Foreman Awarded Benefits for Heat Exhaustion in Spite of Co-Morbid ConditionIllustrating yet again the deference afforded a Judge of Compensation Claims when it comes to fact-finding, a Florida appellate court affirmed a JCC’s finding that an injured employee had not...
FL Court Affirms JCC's Finding of No Misrepresentation as to Claimant's "Outside" Income in Spite of Considerable Evidence to Contrary FL Court Affirms JCC's Finding of No Misrepresentation as to Claimant's "Outside" Income in Spite of Considerable Evidence to ContraryMore than 20 years ago, I engaged in an “animated” discussion with a good friend who, while now retired, was then a prominent orthopedic surgeon in the area. Because of...
Opinion Mondays: Medical Care for Injured Workers is a Foursome Opinion Mondays: Medical Care for Injured Workers is a FoursomeA Florida appellate court recently held that a JCC erred in refusing to award temporary disability benefits to an injured worker based on the fact that the worker received “full...
Florida JCC May Not Deny TD Benefits Because Worker Received Full Pay From His Sick Leave Account Florida JCC May Not Deny TD Benefits Because Worker Received Full Pay From His Sick Leave AccountAcknowledging the broad latitude afforded the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board of Review when it comes to weighing the medical evidence before it, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia,...
West Virginia Court Reverses Medical Findings of Board of Review West Virginia Court Reverses Medical Findings of Board of ReviewUnder Alaska Stat. §§ 23.30.107 and 23.30.107, an employer is entitled to have access to an injured employee’s mental health records when such access is relevant to the employee’s workers’...
Alaska Supreme Court Says Employer May Have Access to Employee's Mental Health Records Alaska Supreme Court Says Employer May Have Access to Employee's Mental Health RecordsIt may be a long shot, but a recent New York appellate decision may have opened the door, if ever so slightly, to compensability of COVID-19 claims on the basis...
Opinion Mondays: Recent NY Case May Open Door for Compensability of COVID-19 Claims Without Need for Presumption Opinion Mondays: Recent NY Case May Open Door for Compensability of COVID-19 Claims Without Need for PresumptionA New York appellate court held that since an employer and carrier had prevailed in a 2013 scheduled loss of use (SLU) claim on causation grounds — the WCLJ’s decision...
In NY Apportionment Claims, Key is Existence of Prior Disability, Not its Cause In NY Apportionment Claims, Key is Existence of Prior Disability, Not its CauseAgain illustrating the discretionary power of a board or commission to make factual findings, a New York appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board denying benefits...
NY Retail Employee Loses Her "Gray Area" Injury Claim NY Retail Employee Loses Her "Gray Area" Injury ClaimTwo months ago, I posited that a decision in an old influenza case from Hawaii might give us some indication as to how a COVID-19 presumption of compensability might operate...
407-Page IME Report Insufficient to Rebut Hawai'i's Presumption of Compensability 407-Page IME Report Insufficient to Rebut Hawai'i's Presumption of CompensabilityAn injured worker’s unpaid religious activity within a small church, which included providing occasional sermons, counseling a small group of parishioners, assisting with Bible studies and baptisms, and the like,...
NY Worker’s Failure to Disclose Religious Activity Does Not Bar Her Receipt of Benefits NY Worker’s Failure to Disclose Religious Activity Does Not Bar Her Receipt of BenefitsIn a long, winding, yet carefully-worded decision (with both concurring and dissenting opinions), a divided Supreme Court of Texas held the federal Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) does not preempt Texas’s...
Texas High Court Collides with 10th Circuit’s Air Ambulance Decision Texas High Court Collides with 10th Circuit’s Air Ambulance Decision
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