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 TreatmentThe Supreme Court of Tennessee, reversing a decision of a state trial court, held that an employer who failed to use an automated external defibrillator (AED) to assist an employee...
Tennessee: No Compensable Claim Where Employer Failed to Use On-Site Defibrillator Tennessee: No Compensable Claim Where Employer Failed to Use On-Site DefibrillatorPolicy Procured “by Mistake” Remains in Force Since Cancellation Wasn’t Done According to Missouri Law Cancellation of a workers’ compensation insurance policy, even when both the insured and the insurer...
Husband/Wife Bakery Ends Up With Two Policies; Insurers Must Split Cost of Death Claim Husband/Wife Bakery Ends Up With Two Policies; Insurers Must Split Cost of Death ClaimUnsuccessful Job Applicant Sought to Utilize Statute After Passing Drug Test, But Not Getting Job § 440.102, Fla. Stat., which establishes a drug-free workplace program as part of Florida’s overall...
Florida Comp Act’s Drug-Free Workplace Program Statute Provides no Private Right of Action Florida Comp Act’s Drug-Free Workplace Program Statute Provides no Private Right of ActionAnimal Farm Logic: “All [workers] are equal, but some [workers] are more equal than others.” House Bill 40, which would provide workers’ compensation benefits for post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), but...
Kentucky Considers PTSD Benefits—but Only for First Responders Kentucky Considers PTSD Benefits—but Only for First RespondersAnnual “Bizarre” List Began More Than 30 Years Ago More than 30 years ago, my mentor, Dr. Arthur Larson, and I began a quirky New Year’s tradition. Early one January...
The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2018 The Top 10 Bizarre Workers’ Comp Cases for 2018An Ohio appellant court recently held that the state’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (“BWC”) was immune from tort liability in a civil action filed against it by the estate of...
Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp Immune From Tort Liability for Alleged Faulty Inspections Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp Immune From Tort Liability for Alleged Faulty InspectionsA determination by the New York Workers’ Compensation Board that a claimant made false representations regarding material facts in violation of N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 114-a was supported by...
Video Surveillance & Social Media Result in Misconduct Finding by NY Board Video Surveillance & Social Media Result in Misconduct Finding by NY BoardThe grant of immunity afforded to subcontractors enrolled in an Ohio contractor’s self-insurance plan [see Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 4123.35(O)] from claims by employees of another enrolled subcontractor does...
Immunity Afforded to Ohio Subcontractors Under Contractor’s Self-Insurance Plan is Constitutional Immunity Afforded to Ohio Subcontractors Under Contractor’s Self-Insurance Plan is ConstitutionalIn a deeply divided (5-4) decision, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma recently held that a provision in the state’s workers’ compensation law [Okla. Stat. tit. 85A, § 89] allowing an...
Deeply Divided Oklahoma High Court Says Reduction of PPD Allowed Where Employer Paid Full Wages During Police Officer’s Disability Period Deeply Divided Oklahoma High Court Says Reduction of PPD Allowed Where Employer Paid Full Wages During Police Officer’s Disability PeriodIn an ancient decision (one year older than me), Day v. Day, 216 S.C. 334, 58 S.E.2d 83 (1950), the Supreme Court of South Carolina, reflecting the general moral mindset...
South Carolina: In Dependency Case, Commission May Not Presume “Fornication” Occurred South Carolina: In Dependency Case, Commission May Not Presume “Fornication” OccurredIn Nevada, under Nev. Rev. Stat. § 616B.578, in order for an employer to receive reimbursement from the state’s “Subsequent Injury Account,” it must prove that that it had knowledge...
Nevada Employer Need Not Show Knowledge of Specific Medical Diagnosis to Recover from Subsequent Injury Fund Nevada Employer Need Not Show Knowledge of Specific Medical Diagnosis to Recover from Subsequent Injury FundThe Supreme Court of North Dakota recently affirmed an ALJ’s finding that the filing of a worker’s claim some 29 months after the work incident was not timely, and, therefore,...
29-Month Delay in Filing North Dakota Claim Bars Recovery 29-Month Delay in Filing North Dakota Claim Bars Recovery
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