Last Friday, a divided Supreme Court of Alabama, applying the work-product rule, determined that a post-accident investigation report, conducted and prepared by an employer’s safety director and a co-worker and...
Alabama: Work-Product Rule Protects Post-Injury Accident Report from Discovery Alabama: Work-Product Rule Protects Post-Injury Accident Report from DiscoveryIn a decision officially to be released on Tuesday (October 1), the Supreme Court of Connecticut has affirmed a decision of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Review Board that in turn...
CT: Commissioner’s Decision That Waiver of Comp Benefits Was Not Supported by Consideration Upheld by State Supreme Court CT: Commissioner’s Decision That Waiver of Comp Benefits Was Not Supported by Consideration Upheld by State Supreme CourtA divided en banc panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a decision by a three-judge panel of the same Circuit Court that had allowed a RICO...
6th Circuit Bounces RICO Suit Against Sedgwick & Coca-Cola 6th Circuit Bounces RICO Suit Against Sedgwick & Coca-ColaExtensively quoting from Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law and reiterating the state’s two-prong test to invoke the so-called “dual capacity doctrine” as an exception to the exclusive remedy provided by the...
Illinois: Wrongful Death Action Against Employer Alleging “Dual Capacity” Fails Illinois: Wrongful Death Action Against Employer Alleging “Dual Capacity” FailsIn Ohio, like most jurisdictions, an employer or carrier that provides an injured worker with workers’ compensation benefits enjoys a subrogation interest, to the extent of such payment, in any...
Ohio: Injured Employee Settles 3rd Party Claim for $15,000, Owes Subrogated Employer $61,000 Ohio: Injured Employee Settles 3rd Party Claim for $15,000, Owes Subrogated Employer $61,000In the determination of any contested workers’ compensation claim, Hawaii favors the claimant with a presumption of compensability [HRS § 386–85]. Construing that presumption, a state appellate court recently affirmed...
Hawaii: Employer Successfully Rebuts Presumption of Compensability Related to Chain-Smoking, Hypertensive Employee Hawaii: Employer Successfully Rebuts Presumption of Compensability Related to Chain-Smoking, Hypertensive EmployeeIllustrating the significant deference given to the Commission’s factual findings, an Arkansas appellate court recently affirmed the denial of benefits to an employee who sustained injuries when he slipped and...
Arkansas: Fall in Company Parking Lot While Returning Lunch Box is Not Compensable Arkansas: Fall in Company Parking Lot While Returning Lunch Box is Not CompensableIn many states, the death benefit owed to a surviving spouse is commuted, sometimes at a significant discount, if the surviving spouse remarries. The Missouri statute, § 287.240(4)(a) R.S. Mo.,...
Missouri: Surviving Spouse’s “Remarriage” Benefit Not Limited to Commutation of Her Share of Death Benefits Missouri: Surviving Spouse’s “Remarriage” Benefit Not Limited to Commutation of Her Share of Death BenefitsAn Oregon appellate court recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that concluded claimant’s subsistence and travel pay were “wages” for purposes of determining claimant’s TTD benefits...
Oregon: AWW Must Include “Subsistence Allowance” and Travel Pay for California Brick Mason Oregon: AWW Must Include “Subsistence Allowance” and Travel Pay for California Brick MasonReiterating an important point, that in order to defeat a workers’ compensation claim it is generally insufficient to show that the injured worker was intoxicated at the time of the...
New Hampshire: Intoxication, Without Showing of Causation, Is Insufficient to Defeat Comp Claim New Hampshire: Intoxication, Without Showing of Causation, Is Insufficient to Defeat Comp ClaimNotice of the Texas non-subscribing employer’s occupational injury benefit plan was insufficient by itself to show that an employee had notice of an arbitration agreement referred to therein since the...
Texas: No Arbitration Where Employer Could Not Show Employee Had Notice of Arbitration Agreement Texas: No Arbitration Where Employer Could Not Show Employee Had Notice of Arbitration AgreementThe Supreme Court of Oklahoma recently held that a chiropractor is not qualified as an expert in diagnosing psychological illnesses such as depression. Accordingly, the report of a chiropractor as...
Oklahoma: Chiropractors May Not Offer Expert Testimony as to Psychological Overlay Oklahoma: Chiropractors May Not Offer Expert Testimony as to Psychological Overlay