In Spade v. Appalachian Regional Healthcare, Inc., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49799 (E.D. Ky. Mar. 11, 2026), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted summary...
Federal Court (E.D. Ky.) Rejects Workers’ Comp Retaliation Claim Despite Sympathetic Facts Federal Court (E.D. Ky.) Rejects Workers’ Comp Retaliation Claim Despite Sympathetic FactsSmall contractors sometimes believe that keeping their payroll lean — two employees instead of three — will keep them outside the reach of the workers’ compensation statute. But the Virginia...
Virginia Court Counts Subcontractor Workers in Coverage Threshold Case Virginia Court Counts Subcontractor Workers in Coverage Threshold CaseIn Garcia v. Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 6549 (2d Cir. Mar. 5, 2026), the Second Circuit denied a petition for review filed by a...
Second Circuit Bars Medical Marijuana Reimbursement Under the Longshore Act Second Circuit Bars Medical Marijuana Reimbursement Under the Longshore ActEvery dollar spent on workers’ compensation falls into one of two broad categories: benefits paid to injured workers—medical care and wage replacement—and the costs of delivering those benefits. The second...
New York’s Hidden Cost Problem: WCRI Examines the Price of Delivering Benefits New York’s Hidden Cost Problem: WCRI Examines the Price of Delivering BenefitsApplying the firefighter’s rule, a specialized assumption of risk doctrine under which, in its most classic form, a person who starts a fire is said to owe no duty of...
California Court Uses Firefighter’s Rule to Bar Negligence Action By UPS Driver California Court Uses Firefighter’s Rule to Bar Negligence Action By UPS DriverA Nebraska appellate court, in Yost v. Davita, Inc., 23 Neb. App. 482, 2015 Neb. App. LEXIS 204 (Dec. 29, 2015), affirmed a compensation court’s decision that an employer was...
Nebraska Court: Injured Employee Failed to Establish Spinal Cord Stimulator Was Reasonable and Necessary Nebraska Court: Injured Employee Failed to Establish Spinal Cord Stimulator Was Reasonable and NecessaryIn a short—yet stinging—Order issued late yesterday [December 22, 2015], the Supreme Court of Florida declined to accept jurisdiction and accordingly denied a petition for review that had been filed...
Florida Supreme Court Delivers Coup de Gras to Padgett Florida Supreme Court Delivers Coup de Gras to PadgettIn Baker v. Bridgestone/Firestone, 2015 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 103 (Dec. 18, 2015), the Supreme Court of Iowa recently held that the discovery rule in workers’ compensation law applies not only...
Iowa High Court Says Discovery Rule Applies to Single Trauma Injuries Iowa High Court Says Discovery Rule Applies to Single Trauma InjuriesApplying the “discovery rule” [see Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 126.05], pursuant to which the prescription period may be suspended where the cause of action is not known or reasonably...
Louisiana: Prescriptive Period Does Not Commence Until Party Has Knowledge of Cause of Action Louisiana: Prescriptive Period Does Not Commence Until Party Has Knowledge of Cause of ActionOverruling Dickens v. Pizza Co., Inc., 266 Kan. 1066, 1071, 974 P.2d 601 (1999), which had adopted an exception to the general rule allowing reduction in workers’ compensation benefits where...
Amendments to Social Security Act in 2000 Do Not Trump Kansas Offset Statute Amendments to Social Security Act in 2000 Do Not Trump Kansas Offset StatuteA police officer, who injured his back as he lifted his “duty bag” to place it in his personal vehicle prior to leaving his home for work sustained an injury...
Illinois Police Officer’s Back Injury Lifting Duty Bag at Home Found Compensable Illinois Police Officer’s Back Injury Lifting Duty Bag at Home Found CompensableDid Intermediate Appellate Court Abide by Supreme Court’s Remand Instructions? In a case that has ricocheted from a Washington state trial court to an intermediate appellate court and from that appellate court...
Washington Appellate Court Again Says “Tasered Trooper’s” Tort Action Not Barred by Exclusive Remedy Defense Washington Appellate Court Again Says “Tasered Trooper’s” Tort Action Not Barred by Exclusive Remedy DefenseThe widow of a worker who was diagnosed with mesothelioma some 40 years after his exposure to asbestos may not sue the former employer to recover damages since her exclusive...
Widow of Illinois Mesothelioma Victim Finds Herself with Catch–22 Widow of Illinois Mesothelioma Victim Finds Herself with Catch–22Original Workers’ Comp Scheme: Equal Treatment of All Injured Employees Within a State In Orwell’s classic allegorical work, Animal Farm, Snowball and Napoleon, recognizing the horrors of the status quo,...
Orwellian Equality: Oklahoma’s Controversial Workers’ Comp Opt Out Legislation Orwellian Equality: Oklahoma’s Controversial Workers’ Comp Opt Out LegislationIn a truly bizarre case, a divided Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that the state’s Commonwealth Court erred in finding that a claimant met her burden of proving that she...
Divided PA Supreme Court Says Mother/Caregiver’s Injuries at Hands of Knife-Wielding Son Were Not Compensable Divided PA Supreme Court Says Mother/Caregiver’s Injuries at Hands of Knife-Wielding Son Were Not CompensableA retaliatory discharge action filed under 820 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. § 305/4(h)—part of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act—may not be removed from an Illinois trial court to a federal...
Illinois Retaliatory Discharge Claim May Not Be Removed to Federal Court Illinois Retaliatory Discharge Claim May Not Be Removed to Federal Court
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