Category: Case comment

Sep 1, 2021

KY Supreme Court Says Statute Terminating Income Benefits at Age 70 is Constitutional

The Kentucky Supreme Court held the 2018 amendment to Ky. Rev. Stat. 342.730(4), which terminates workers’ compensation income benefits when the recipient reaches the age of 70 or four years...

KY Supreme Court Says Statute Terminating Income Benefits at Age 70 is Constitutional KY Supreme Court Says Statute Terminating Income Benefits at Age 70 is Constitutional
Aug 30, 2021

GA Worker’s Subsequent Fall at Home Was an Intervening Cause of Current Condition

A Georgia appellate court found that a state superior court erred when it reversed the State Board of Workers’ Compensation’s determination that an injured worker had recovered from a work-related...

GA Worker’s Subsequent Fall at Home Was an Intervening Cause of Current Condition GA Worker’s Subsequent Fall at Home Was an Intervening Cause of Current Condition
Aug 26, 2021

Delaware Board Must Decide if COVID-Related Claim is Compensable

The Superior Court of Delaware (New Castle) held that the issue of whether an employee’s fatal COVID-19 infection was an injury or occupational disease must be determined by the state’s...

Delaware Board Must Decide if COVID-Related Claim is Compensable Delaware Board Must Decide if COVID-Related Claim is Compensable
Aug 24, 2021

Oregon Employee Recovers Benefits Following Explosion of Energy Drink

In a case with a rather bizarre fact pattern, an Oregon appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that awarded benefits to a painter who sustained...

Oregon Employee Recovers Benefits Following Explosion of Energy Drink Oregon Employee Recovers Benefits Following Explosion of Energy Drink
Aug 23, 2021

SD Worker’s Letter Asking for “Review of Benefits” Was Inadequate to Toll Limitations Statute

Acknowledging the relative informality within the South Dakota workers’ compensation laws as well as the public policy that the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act and its rules should be construed liberally...

SD Worker’s Letter Asking for “Review of Benefits” Was Inadequate to Toll Limitations Statute SD Worker’s Letter Asking for “Review of Benefits” Was Inadequate to Toll Limitations Statute
Aug 19, 2021

MN High Court Says Injured Worker Failed to Establish Exception Allowing Long-Term Opioid Use

In a carefully crafted decision dealing with a chronic problem both within and without the workers’ compensation world—long-term opioid use—the Supreme Court of Minnesota held an injured workers treatment with...

MN High Court Says Injured Worker Failed to Establish Exception Allowing Long-Term Opioid Use MN High Court Says Injured Worker Failed to Establish Exception Allowing Long-Term Opioid Use
Aug 17, 2021

Delaware Worker’s Running in Workplace Bars Claim for Injuries

Construing 19 Del. C. § 2353(b), which bars an employee’s right to compensation for an injury if the injury results, inter alia, from “the employee’s deliberate and reckless indifference to...

Delaware Worker’s Running in Workplace Bars Claim for Injuries Delaware Worker’s Running in Workplace Bars Claim for Injuries
Aug 9, 2021

Utah IME Physician May Not Be Sued by Workers’ Comp Claimant

Finding that a physician-patient relationship did not exist between a doctor hired by the workers’ compensation carrier to perform an independent medical examination of the claimant, the Supreme Court of...

Utah IME Physician May Not Be Sued by Workers’ Comp Claimant Utah IME Physician May Not Be Sued by Workers’ Comp Claimant
Aug 5, 2021

Half of Virginia Claimant’s PPD Apportioned to Pre-Existing Condition

In a decision not designated for publication, a Virginia appellate court affirmed a finding of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission that an injured employee’s work-related accident had caused only a...

Half of Virginia Claimant’s PPD Apportioned to Pre-Existing Condition Half of Virginia Claimant’s PPD Apportioned to Pre-Existing Condition
Jul 29, 2021

Virginia Claimant Did Not Violate Known Safety Rule in Connection with Injury

Construing Virginia’s intentional violation of a known safety rule statute [Va. Code § 65.2-306(A)], a state appellate court affirmed an award of workers’ compensation benefits to an employee who sustained...

Virginia Claimant Did Not Violate Known Safety Rule in Connection with Injury Virginia Claimant Did Not Violate Known Safety Rule in Connection with Injury
Jul 27, 2021

NY Court Agrees Claimant’s Injuries Occurred Within “Gray Area” of Employment

Reiterating New York’s special “gray area” rule, pursuant to which injuries sustained in public areas near the employment—but not on the employer’s premises—are nevertheless compensable where the risks of street...

NY Court Agrees Claimant’s Injuries Occurred Within “Gray Area” of Employment NY Court Agrees Claimant’s Injuries Occurred Within “Gray Area” of Employment
Jul 26, 2021

Surviving Spouse Fails to Show Causal Connection Between NY Injury and Decedent’s Subsequent Death

A New York appellate court affirmed a determination by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that the surviving spouse of a deceased worker failed to establish—by competent medical evidence—that his wife’s...

Surviving Spouse Fails to Show Causal Connection Between NY Injury and Decedent’s Subsequent Death Surviving Spouse Fails to Show Causal Connection Between NY Injury and Decedent’s Subsequent Death