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 this morning’s post, I was critical of a number of states whose governors had marched to the microphone and camera and, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, announced...
In Illinois, You Need Neither a Legislature Nor a Governor: Comp Commission Unilaterally Changes its Rules of Evidence In Illinois, You Need Neither a Legislature Nor a Governor: Comp Commission Unilaterally Changes its Rules of EvidenceSince the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of state governors (e.g., California, Kentucky, Missouri, and North Dakota) have issued executive orders promising extended workers’ compensation benefits and, in...
Opinion Mondays: State Governors Have Pens, Who Needs Legislatures? Opinion Mondays: State Governors Have Pens, Who Needs Legislatures?Illustrating yet again, that the age-old adage that an employer generally takes an employee as it finds him or her, a Nebraska appellate court affirmed a finding by the state’s...
Broken Ankle Results in Permanent Total Disability for Nebraska Truck Driver Broken Ankle Results in Permanent Total Disability for Nebraska Truck DriverIn a decision that could have important implications for those who travel as part of their work for North Carolina employers, a state appellate court, affirming a decision of the...
NC Court Narrows State’s Traveling Employee Rule NC Court Narrows State’s Traveling Employee RuleIn Georgia, a borrowed servant is, even though temporarily, the co-employee of the borrowing employer’s regular employees. Accordingly, such a borrowed servant may not sue one of the employer’s regular...
In Georgia, Borrowed Servant is Co-Employee of Borrowing Employer’s “Regular” Employee In Georgia, Borrowed Servant is Co-Employee of Borrowing Employer’s “Regular” EmployeeOver the past several weeks, as the coronavirus pandemic has raged across the United States, several state governors and a number of state legislatures have announced, and in a few...
Opinion Mondays: “Old” Case Law May Be Key to Many Coronavirus Claims Opinion Mondays: “Old” Case Law May Be Key to Many Coronavirus ClaimsApplying Virginia’s so-called “actual risk test,” a state appellate court affirmed a decision by the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission that had denied benefits to a school security officer who fell...
Virginia School Guard’s Injuries Allegedly Caused by Wind Were Not Compensable Virginia School Guard’s Injuries Allegedly Caused by Wind Were Not CompensableIn a real “head-scratcher,” an Arkansas appellate court, relying on a 50-year-old decision of the state’s Supreme Court, held that the Arkansas Commission did not err when it determined that...
Arkansas Carrier Wins: Requires Premiums Be Paid on Worker’s Earnings, Then Says He Was Independent Contractor Arkansas Carrier Wins: Requires Premiums Be Paid on Worker’s Earnings, Then Says He Was Independent ContractorLast Wednesday (March 25), North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed Executive Order 2020-12 that, as of March 13, 2020, purports to extend special worker compensation protections to first responders, health...
New Feature: Opinion Mondays — In the COVID-19 Medical Crisis, Who Is on the Front Line? New Feature: Opinion Mondays — In the COVID-19 Medical Crisis, Who Is on the Front Line?Acknowledging that when South Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Commission makes a credibility determination based on substantial evidence, that credibility finding itself is substantial evidence, and factual findings properly based on such...
SC Supreme Court Stresses Commission May Not Use Credibility as a Wild Card SC Supreme Court Stresses Commission May Not Use Credibility as a Wild CardA California appellate court affirmed a $2.9 million judgment entered against a former movie industry employer who botched the green card application process of one of its foreign employees, resulting...
$2.9 Million California Judgment Against Employer Stands in Muddled Green Card Application Case $2.9 Million California Judgment Against Employer Stands in Muddled Green Card Application CaseConstruing South Dakota’s “no progress” rule [S.D. Admin. R. 47:03:01:09], which allows the state’s Department of Labor to dismiss a workers’ compensation petition when there has been “no activity for...
SD Supreme Court Construes State’s “No Progress” Rule in Comp Cases SD Supreme Court Construes State’s “No Progress” Rule in Comp Cases
New Comments