Category: Case comment

Oct 15, 2019

PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK

Section 306(a.3) Mandating Use of AMA Guides, 6th Ed., Stands In enacting 77 Pa. Stat. § 511.3, which mandates a physician’s use of the American Medical Association “Guides to the...

PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK
Oct 11, 2019

Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments

Yesterday (October 10, 2019), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by a U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in which the lower court had...

Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments
Oct 10, 2019

NY Red Cross Volunteer May Not Recover for Injuries During Charitable “Work”

A New York appellate court recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that had denied workers’ compensation benefits to a Volunteer Community Ambassador for the Red Cross...

NY Red Cross Volunteer May Not Recover for Injuries During Charitable “Work” NY Red Cross Volunteer May Not Recover for Injuries During Charitable “Work”
Oct 9, 2019

NY Claim Denied Where Carrier Was Prejudiced by Two-Year Delay in Claim Filing

A New York appellate court recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board denying a claim for failure to provide proper notice to the workers’ compensation carrier where...

NY Claim Denied Where Carrier Was Prejudiced by Two-Year Delay in Claim Filing NY Claim Denied Where Carrier Was Prejudiced by Two-Year Delay in Claim Filing
Oct 8, 2019

Inadmissible Drug Test May Not Be Used to Show Employee Fraud in Louisiana

In Louisiana, a positive drug test following a work-related injury may not be offered as evidence that the injured worker’s injuries were the result of intoxication at the time of...

Inadmissible Drug Test May Not Be Used to Show Employee Fraud in Louisiana Inadmissible Drug Test May Not Be Used to Show Employee Fraud in Louisiana
Oct 7, 2019

SC Commissioner Should Have Recused Herself from Comp Case

The Supreme Court of South Carolina, reversing a decision by the state’s Court of Appeals, held that a Commissioner should have recused herself from a workers’ compensation dispute where the...

SC Commissioner Should Have Recused Herself from Comp Case SC Commissioner Should Have Recused Herself from Comp Case
Oct 3, 2019

Illinois Court Says Trial Court Erred in Converting PPD Award to Lump Sum

An Illinois trial court’s finding that the entire amount of an arbitrator’s award—stated as a weekly amount times a number of weeks—came due when the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission adopted...

Illinois Court Says Trial Court Erred in Converting PPD Award to Lump Sum Illinois Court Says Trial Court Erred in Converting PPD Award to Lump Sum
Oct 2, 2019

Mississippi Employer Fails to Rebut Presumption That Employee’s Unwitnessed Death was Work-Related

Yesterday (October 1, 2019), the Court of Appeals of Mississippi affirmed an award of death benefits to the surviving dependents of a hospital material-management technician who was found dead in...

Mississippi Employer Fails to Rebut Presumption That Employee’s Unwitnessed Death was Work-Related Mississippi Employer Fails to Rebut Presumption That Employee’s Unwitnessed Death was Work-Related
Oct 1, 2019

NY Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Following Police Officer’s Apparent Suicide

A New York appellate court recently affirmed the findings of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that a police officer’s death, from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound was not a line-of-duty...

NY Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Following Police Officer’s Apparent Suicide NY Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits Following Police Officer’s Apparent Suicide
Sep 30, 2019

NY Board Errs in Apportioning Disability to Preexisting Multiple Sclerosis

Where a worker’s preexisting multiple sclerosis (“MS”) was non-disabling and undiagnosed at the time he suffered a slip and fall injury on ice, striking his head on the pavement, it...

NY Board Errs in Apportioning Disability to Preexisting Multiple Sclerosis NY Board Errs in Apportioning Disability to Preexisting Multiple Sclerosis
Sep 27, 2019

NY Board’s $500 Penalty Against Claimant’s Attorney Affirmed

A $500 penalty assessed against a claimant’s attorney by New York’s Workers’ Compensation Board was affirmed by a state appellate court [Matter of Curcio v Sherwood 370 Mgt., LLC, 2019...

NY Board’s $500 Penalty Against Claimant’s Attorney Affirmed NY Board’s $500 Penalty Against Claimant’s Attorney Affirmed
Sep 26, 2019

Federal Court Nixes SD Employee’s Attempted Use of Dual Capacity Doctrine

A products liability/strict liability and negligence action filed by an employee against an employer based upon the employer’s earlier merger with the firm that had manufactured the allegedly defective product...

Federal Court Nixes SD Employee’s Attempted Use of Dual Capacity Doctrine Federal Court Nixes SD Employee’s Attempted Use of Dual Capacity Doctrine