Ordinarily, workers are free to pursue civil actions against third parties whose negligence causes work-related injuries. One exception, however, is the so-called “firefighter’s rule,” adopted in a number of states,...
Kansas Court Extends Firefighter’s Rule to Bar Tort Recovery by Law Enforcement Officer Kansas Court Extends Firefighter’s Rule to Bar Tort Recovery by Law Enforcement OfficerNevada, like a number of other states, provides workers’ compensation benefits for inmates who sustain injuries “while engaged in work in a prison industry or work program,” whether the program...
Nevada Work Release Inmate’s Injuries Are Responsibility of Employer, Not State Nevada Work Release Inmate’s Injuries Are Responsibility of Employer, Not StateA truck driver, who alleged that he sustained injuries while delivering merchandise to a Wal-Mart store in Kentucky cannot proceed in his civil action against the large retailer since, under...
Kentucky Truck Driver’s Tort Action Against Wal-Mart Barred by Statutory Employer Rules Kentucky Truck Driver’s Tort Action Against Wal-Mart Barred by Statutory Employer RulesAn employee’s inability to file a timely notice of claim based on his alleged inability to meet with counsel because of the onslaught and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy was an...
NY Claimant Fails to Show That Claim Filing Was Delayed by Hurricane Sandy NY Claimant Fails to Show That Claim Filing Was Delayed by Hurricane SandyAn Arkansas appellate court affirmed a finding by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission that an employee was entitled to additional medical benefits when, some six months after an ankle injury,...
Arkansas Court Approves Award of Additional Medical Expenses Related to ER Visit Six Months After Initial Injury Arkansas Court Approves Award of Additional Medical Expenses Related to ER Visit Six Months After Initial InjuryIn what Professor Larson would have referred to as an “upside-down” exclusivity case—where the employee tries to prove that her injuries were not covered by the applicable workers’ compensation law...
Virgin Islands: Going and Coming—Is Break Taken to Run Errands a “Lunch” Break Virgin Islands: Going and Coming—Is Break Taken to Run Errands a “Lunch” BreakThe Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that where a claimant delays the filing of a workers’ compensation death benefits claim because she was unaware, and could not...
West Virginia High Court Crafts Narrow Exception to 6-Month Statute of Limitations in Death Claims West Virginia High Court Crafts Narrow Exception to 6-Month Statute of Limitations in Death ClaimsIn a memorandum decision, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the denial of workers’ compensation benefits to an employee who suffered a dislocation of his left knee...
West Virginia Employee’s Unexplained Fall Was Idiopathic And Not Compensable West Virginia Employee’s Unexplained Fall Was Idiopathic And Not CompensableOn Tuesday, a Pennsylvania appellate court held that a claimant, whose purported husband had been killed in a work-related rollover accident at a ski resort, had presented clear and convincing...
PA: Native-American Marriage Ceremony Establishes “Widow’s” Common-law Marriage PA: Native-American Marriage Ceremony Establishes “Widow’s” Common-law MarriageThe 6.5% assessment, payable by a Maryland employer or insurer to the state’s Subsequent Injury Fund on: (i) each award for permanent disability or death, or (ii) each amount payable...
Maryland: Subsequent Injury Fund Assessment Not Reduced Due to Retirement Offset Maryland: Subsequent Injury Fund Assessment Not Reduced Due to Retirement OffsetA hospital nurse, who fractured her humerus in a fall in her employer’s emergency room when her coat apparently became ensnarled in a wheelchair, did not sustain an injury arising...
Ohio Nurse’s Fall in Hospital ER Was Outside Course and Scope of Employment Ohio Nurse’s Fall in Hospital ER Was Outside Course and Scope of EmploymentApplying Kentucky’s “up-the-ladder immunity” doctrine, a state appellate court vacated a trial court’s refusal to grant summary judgment in favor of a defendant corporation that had been sued in tort...
Kentucky Contractor Immune From Suit Filed by Employee of Subcontractor Kentucky Contractor Immune From Suit Filed by Employee of Subcontractor