Category: Case comment

Oct 23, 2019

NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury

Where a claimant worked six days a week from February 13, 2017 until May 14, 2017, when he sustained work-related injuries, earning $12,130.76 for the thirteen-week period, it was error...

NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury
Oct 22, 2019

Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition

Testimony by the employer’s independent medical examiner, in which the physician opined that the major contributing cause of claimant’s need for treatment for his respiratory condition was his 17-year history...

Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition
Oct 21, 2019

NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana

In the first appellate decision from New York to deal with the intersection of the state’s medical marijuana law with its Workers’ Compensation Law, a state appellate court recently held...

NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana
Oct 18, 2019

Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers

In a divided decision, a Florida appellate court found that a state trial court had erred when it dismissed an action filed by an injured worker against her workers’ compensation...

Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers
Oct 17, 2019

Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year

Stressing that net profits from the operation of a principal’s subchapter S corporation are not the equivalent of wages earned, the Supreme Court of Nebraska affirmed a determination by the...

Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year
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