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Jan 6, 2025

Iowa Court Affirms Denial of Benefits re: COVID-19 Claim

In Collins v. Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART), 2024 Iowa App. LEXIS 918 (Dec. 18, 2024), the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed denial of workers’ compensation benefits to...

Iowa Court Affirms Denial of Benefits re: COVID-19 Claim Iowa Court Affirms Denial of Benefits re: COVID-19 Claim
Jan 6, 2025

Nebraska COVID-19 Claim Fails For Want of Expert Medical Evidence

In Spisa-Kline v. Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital, 2024 Neb. App. LEXIS 750 (Dec. 31, 2024), the Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the employer in a workers’ compensation...

Nebraska COVID-19 Claim Fails For Want of Expert Medical Evidence Nebraska COVID-19 Claim Fails For Want of Expert Medical Evidence
Dec 31, 2024

Oregon Jaywalker Might Be Awarded Benefits

Appeals Court Examines Going and Coming Rule The Oregon Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded a Workers’ Compensation Board decision that had denied benefits to a worker injured while...

Oregon Jaywalker Might Be Awarded Benefits Oregon Jaywalker Might Be Awarded Benefits
Dec 30, 2024

NC Court of Appeals Reverses $28.9 Million Tort Judgment

Insurer Had No Duty to Defend Intentional Tort Claim Against Co-Employee In Ortez v. Penn Nat’l Sec. Ins. Co., 2024 N.C. App. LEXIS 1017 (Dec. 17, 2024), the North Carolina...

NC Court of Appeals Reverses $28.9 Million Tort Judgment NC Court of Appeals Reverses $28.9 Million Tort Judgment

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Feb 3, 2015

Could Employee Classification Issues Uberwhelm the Uber Business Model?

Arguments were held last week in connection with motions pending in a federal lawsuit [O’Connor v. Uber, 13–3826, U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal.- San Francisco] that could put an ugly...

Could Employee Classification Issues Uberwhelm the Uber Business Model? Could Employee Classification Issues Uberwhelm the Uber Business Model?
Jan 26, 2015

Maine Home Treadmill Fatality Found Compensable

Illustrating the point that for telecommuting employees, who are often tethered to their employers by ubiquitous cell phones and tablets, the line between the employment world and private life is...

Maine Home Treadmill Fatality Found Compensable Maine Home Treadmill Fatality Found Compensable
Jan 21, 2015

New Mexico: Health Care Provider’s “Certification” of Medical Marijuana is Functional Equivalent of Prescription for Injured Worker

An authorized treating health care provider’s “certification” authorizing the use of medical marijuana under New Mexico’s Compassionate Use Act [N.M. Stat. Ann. § 26–2B–1 et seq.] is the functional equivalent...

New Mexico: Health Care Provider’s “Certification” of Medical Marijuana is Functional Equivalent of Prescription for Injured Worker New Mexico: Health Care Provider’s “Certification” of Medical Marijuana is Functional Equivalent of Prescription for Injured Worker
Jan 19, 2015

South Carolina Supreme Court Adopts What Amounts to Positional Risk Standard in Slip and Fall Cases

The Supreme Court of South Carolina, reversing the state court of appeals, recently held that an office worker who sustained injuries when she fell as she walked down an unobstructed,...

South Carolina Supreme Court Adopts What Amounts to Positional Risk Standard in Slip and Fall Cases South Carolina Supreme Court Adopts What Amounts to Positional Risk Standard in Slip and Fall Cases
Jan 13, 2015

Kentucky High Court Splits in Case Involving Personal Comfort Doctrine

In a split decision dealing with the application of the personal comfort doctrine described in Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 21.01, et seq., a majority of the Supreme Court of...

Kentucky High Court Splits in Case Involving Personal Comfort Doctrine Kentucky High Court Splits in Case Involving Personal Comfort Doctrine
Jan 12, 2015

For Now, Exclusivity Does Not Bar Workers’ Tort Cases Against BP Products Following 2011 Chemical Release at Refinery

A Federal District Court in Texas has refused to grant a motion for summary judgment filed by Defendant BP Products North America, Inc. (“BP Products”) in a civil action arising...

For Now, Exclusivity Does Not Bar Workers’ Tort Cases Against BP Products Following 2011 Chemical Release at Refinery For Now, Exclusivity Does Not Bar Workers’ Tort Cases Against BP Products Following 2011 Chemical Release at Refinery
Jan 5, 2015

NY Employer’s Surveillance of Injured Worker Fails to Establish Fraud

A New York appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that an employer’s surveillance videos and testimony of its private investigator, which primarily showed a workers’...

NY Employer’s Surveillance of Injured Worker Fails to Establish Fraud

NY Employer’s Surveillance of Injured Worker Fails to Establish Fraud

Dec 30, 2014

New York Court Finds Worker’s Refusal of Light-Work Justified

A New York appellate court affirmed a decision of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that a claimant had not voluntarily withdrawn from the labor market by refusing a light duty...

New York Court Finds Worker’s Refusal of Light-Work Justified New York Court Finds Worker’s Refusal of Light-Work Justified
Dec 29, 2014

Ohio Worker May Receive TTD Benefits In Spite of Positive Drug Test After Injury

Reiterating the Ohio rule that that a pre-injury infraction undetected until after the injury is not grounds for concluding that a claimant voluntarily abandoned his employment so as to preclude...

Ohio Worker May Receive TTD Benefits In Spite of Positive Drug Test After Injury Ohio Worker May Receive TTD Benefits In Spite of Positive Drug Test After Injury
Dec 24, 2014

8th Circuit: Insurer’s Refusal to Pay for Injured Undocumented Worker’s Groceries and Cable TV Not Bad-Faith Denial of Insurance Benefits

In an action alleging bad-faith denial of insurance benefits filed by an undocumented worker who sustained severe injuries in a work-related accident, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, construing Iowa...

8th Circuit: Insurer’s Refusal to Pay for Injured Undocumented Worker’s Groceries and Cable TV Not Bad-Faith Denial of Insurance Benefits 8th Circuit: Insurer’s Refusal to Pay for Injured Undocumented Worker’s Groceries and Cable TV Not Bad-Faith Denial of Insurance Benefits
Dec 19, 2014

Kentucky Court Affirms Limitation of Attorney’s Fee in Comp Claim Involving Multiple Beneficiaries

The Court of Appeals of Kentucky, in Roberts v. Sticklen, 2014 Ky. App. LEXIS 186 (Dec. 12, 2014) held that the plain language of Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 342.320(2)(a)...

Kentucky Court Affirms Limitation of Attorney’s Fee in Comp Claim Involving Multiple Beneficiaries

Kentucky Court Affirms Limitation of Attorney’s Fee in Comp Claim Involving Multiple Beneficiaries

Dec 19, 2014

Alabama: Injuries Sustained While Seeking Medical Treatment For Earlier Injury Are Compensable

In a case of first impression in Alabama, a state appellate court recently held that injuries sustained while traveling to or from a location to receive treatment for an earlier...

Alabama: Injuries Sustained While Seeking Medical Treatment For Earlier Injury Are Compensable Alabama: Injuries Sustained While Seeking Medical Treatment For Earlier Injury Are Compensable

New Comments

  • trob: Excellent question. My thought is that the employer was following what it assumed was the typical practice of seeking to protect its "subrogation" interest in state court; in virtually all jurisdictions, the state trial courts are where subrogation issues are litigated. What differed here, of course, was that it wasn't a standard subrogation case, i.e., the employee's work-related injury wasn't ca...
  • ramivou: Why didn't they file it with the state Commission instead?
  • Thomas A. Robinson: I suspect that ACME could seek contractual indemnity, as you note, either from the staffing agency or its carrier. The goal of the Board or agency generally is to see to the proper award of benefits for compensable injuries. Allowing the "aggrieved" parties to sort it out later is completely consistent with the overall theory of workers' compensation. Many thanks for the comment. Best wishes.
  • Barry Stinson: I wonder if Acme's insurer could seek contractural indemnity from Variety's insurer outside of the WC system.
  • Michael C. Duff: The conceptual distinction is between joint causation and presumptive single causation.
  • Thomas A. Robinson: Sorry, I don't/can't provide legal advice. Best wishes, however.
  • Ken Smith: What can I do when my attorney blows my case with an incomplete RB89
  • Thomas A. Robinson: Good point, although the interesting thing about the case--at least to me--is that it discusses the important "injury by accident" issue. That issue, present in at least a plurality of state acts, is largely ignored by Commissions, Boards, and Courts these days. Here, also, the case was so fact-specific that even it had been issued as published, it would be factually distinguishable from many othe...
  • kathlyn gorman: It should have been noted in your discussion that this is an unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Thus, it does not constitute controlling legal authority.
  • Thomas A. Robinson: You're correct. Ordinarily, I can depend upon Alabama to provide me with at least one case for "the List." I'll bet 2022 will unearth something bizarre from the Great State of Alabama. Take care.