Earlier today (June 9, 2016), a divided Supreme Court of Florida rendered its long-awaited decision in Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg [No. SC13–1976], striking down as unconstitutional the state’s...
Florida High Court Strikes Down 104-Week Limitation on TTD Benefits Florida High Court Strikes Down 104-Week Limitation on TTD BenefitsA recent federal district court decision from Oregon, Kwiecinski v. Medi-Tech International Corp., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72453 (D. Or., June 3, 2016), provides an important practice point not only...
Cautionary Tale: Retaliatory Discharge Statute May Not Protect Employee if Original Comp Claim Was Filed in Another State Cautionary Tale: Retaliatory Discharge Statute May Not Protect Employee if Original Comp Claim Was Filed in Another StateThe 2013 Oklahoma workers’ compensation “reforms” 2013 Senate Bill 1062 which, among other things, created the state’s uber-controversial “Opt Out” arrangement, in which employers can jettison the entire state-run system...
Oklahoma Supreme Court Lands Yet Another Body Blow to State’s Controversial Opt Out Law Oklahoma Supreme Court Lands Yet Another Body Blow to State’s Controversial Opt Out LawOn March 11, 2016, Virginia governor McAuliffe signed into law a bill extending the state’s narrow presumption of compensability [Va. Code Ann. § 65.2–105] to cover most claims where the...
Virginia Legislature Instructs Appellate Court: Deceased Employees Really Are “Physically Unable to Testify” Virginia Legislature Instructs Appellate Court: Deceased Employees Really Are “Physically Unable to Testify”In Recent “Comp” Decisions (the other from Commission), Oklahoma Legislature Is “0 for 2” A provision in Okla. Stat. tit. 85A, § 2(14) that disqualifies a claimant from recovering for...
Oklahoma High Court Strikes Down State’s 180-Day Cumulative Trauma Employment Rule Oklahoma High Court Strikes Down State’s 180-Day Cumulative Trauma Employment RuleAn Indiana jury was within its province as factfinder in returning a verdict for more than $400,000 in compensatory and punitive damages against a former employer in a retaliatory discharge...
Facebook® Plays Role in Indiana $400,000 Verdict for Retaliatory Discharge Facebook® Plays Role in Indiana $400,000 Verdict for Retaliatory DischargeA mother’s wrongful death action against her son’s employer was not barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act (“Act”) where the undisputed facts clearly showed...
Georgia Mother May Sue Deceased Son’s Employer and Staffing Company Where Co-Worker Murderer May Have been Negligently Hired Georgia Mother May Sue Deceased Son’s Employer and Staffing Company Where Co-Worker Murderer May Have been Negligently HiredWhere a father and son were co-employees working at an excavation site and the son was struck in the head with the bucket of a track hoe—the blow causing serious...
Wyoming Father May Sue Employer For Anguish Related to Co-employee Son’s Death Wyoming Father May Sue Employer For Anguish Related to Co-employee Son’s DeathIn what at first blush might appear as a counter-intuitive ruling, an Illinois appellate court has held that a flight attendant who injured her knee on a flight from Denver...
Illinois Court Says Flight Attendant is Not a Traveling Employee While “Commuting” Illinois Court Says Flight Attendant is Not a Traveling Employee While “Commuting”In an opinion not yet designated for publication [see Ireton v. Horizon Mental Health Mgmt., LLC, 2016 Tenn. LEXIS 3 (Jan. 19, 2016), a Tennessee appeals panel affirmed the denial...
Tennessee Nurse’s PTSD Claim Fails In Spite of Flashback to Being Raped As Child Tennessee Nurse’s PTSD Claim Fails In Spite of Flashback to Being Raped As ChildWhere a Mississippi resident contracted coccidiodomycosis (“Valley Fever”) at a job site in California and had received some indemnity and medical benefits under California’s Workers’ Compensation Act (“the Act”), he...
Valley Fever Plaintiff Fails To Establish Comp Insurance Co.’s Extreme or Outrageous Conduct Valley Fever Plaintiff Fails To Establish Comp Insurance Co.’s Extreme or Outrageous ConductWhere an patient’s treating physician dictated a narrative report that became part of the patient’s worker’s compensation claim file indicating that the patient, through a translator, had made threatening statements...
Georgia M.D.’s Medical Report Indicating Claimant Was Threat to Doctor and Staff Not Libelous Georgia M.D.’s Medical Report Indicating Claimant Was Threat to Doctor and Staff Not Libelous