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 DecisionsIn a case that illustrates the difficulties that can arise from intertwined small businesses, a Massachusetts appellate court affirmed a decision of the state’s Industrial Accident Reviewing Board that denied...
Massachusetts Business Owner’s Death in Auto Accident While Attending to Side Business is Not Compensable Massachusetts Business Owner’s Death in Auto Accident While Attending to Side Business is Not CompensableThe U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma recently held that Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation subrogation statute, 85A Okla. Stat. § 43 does not violate Article 23, Section 7...
Federal Court Says Oklahoma’s Subrogation Statute is Constitutional Federal Court Says Oklahoma’s Subrogation Statute is ConstitutionalIn an unpublished opinion, the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court of Tennessee affirmed a trial court’s finding that an employer failed to meet its burden of...
Tennessee Healthcare Worker’s “Scuffle” With Patient Was Not Willful Misconduct Tennessee Healthcare Worker’s “Scuffle” With Patient Was Not Willful MisconductA New York appellate court affirmed a split decision of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that earlier found a claimant’s reduced earnings were the result of economic conditions, rather than...
NY Claimant Fails to Show Reduced Earnings Were Caused by Established Back Injury NY Claimant Fails to Show Reduced Earnings Were Caused by Established Back InjuryManeuvering the difficult space within which a worker’s preexisting condition intersects his or her work-related injury, the Supreme Court of Virginia recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Court of...
Virginia Supreme Court Construes “Two-Cause” Rule for Total Disability Cases Virginia Supreme Court Construes “Two-Cause” Rule for Total Disability CasesA worker’s claim for workers’ compensation benefits and a dependent’s claim for death benefits are separate and independent claims, such that the dependent’s claim is not derivate of the worker’s,...
Maryland Widow’s Death Benefits Claim Not Barred by Husband’s Broad Release Before His Death Maryland Widow’s Death Benefits Claim Not Barred by Husband’s Broad Release Before His DeathFired Worker Must Either Have Filed a Claim or Communicated an Intent to Do So Construing Pennsylvania law, a U.S. District Court rejected the so-called “perception theory” of workers’ compensation...
Federal District Court Rejects “Perception Theory” of Workers’ Compensation Retaliation Federal District Court Rejects “Perception Theory” of Workers’ Compensation RetaliationA New York appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that found a claimant had failed to provide the required written notice of injury to his...
Vague, Nonspecific Statements About Knee Pain Did Not Constitute Required Notice to New York Employer Vague, Nonspecific Statements About Knee Pain Did Not Constitute Required Notice to New York EmployerA New York appellate court, weighing conflicting medical evidence as to the causal connection, if any, between a business woman’s heart attack was causally connected to her employment, recently affirmed...
NY Hair Salon Owner Fails to Show Causal Connection Between Rude Customers and Her Heart Attack NY Hair Salon Owner Fails to Show Causal Connection Between Rude Customers and Her Heart AttackWhere an Iowa claimant’s expert medical witnesses appeared to be unaware of the procedures followed by the employer to prevent contamination of its water supply, the commissioner could reasonably conclude...
Iowa Worker Fails to Tie Legionnaires’ Disease to Workplace Iowa Worker Fails to Tie Legionnaires’ Disease to WorkplaceSufficient evidence existed in the record to support the commissioner’s (and the district court’s) determination that a nurse, who worked for the employer providing in-home nursing services to patients, sustained...
Iowa In-Home Nurse’s Injuries in Head-On Collision Compensable in Spite of Slight Deviation From Routine Iowa In-Home Nurse’s Injuries in Head-On Collision Compensable in Spite of Slight Deviation From RoutineQuoting and adopting the discussion found in Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 142.01, et seq., a New Jersey appellate court held that the fifth “Larson factor”—residency—is insufficient, in and of...
New Jersey Court Says Fifth “Larson” Factor (Residential Status) Not Sufficient to Establish Jurisdiction New Jersey Court Says Fifth “Larson” Factor (Residential Status) Not Sufficient to Establish Jurisdiction
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