Iowa Commutation Order Allows for Substantial Inheritable Estate Illustrating just how far some states have moved away from the original workers’ compensation principle that indemnity benefits are not an inheritable...
Opinion Mondays: States Shouldn’t Treat PTD Awards as Estate Planning Tools Opinion Mondays: States Shouldn’t Treat PTD Awards as Estate Planning ToolsConstruing Iowa’s co-employee immunity statute, Iowa Code § 85.20(2), which allows a co-employee to be sued for injuries caused by the co-employee’s “gross negligence amounting to such lack of care...
$7 Million Verdict Against Iowa Co-Employee Cannot Stand $7 Million Verdict Against Iowa Co-Employee Cannot StandIndependent Contractor/Driver Was Joint Employer Under Iowa Law Construing Iowa law, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a federal district court’s decision granting summary judgment to an independent...
Trainee/Apprentice May Not Sue Independent Contractor/Truck Driver Trainee/Apprentice May Not Sue Independent Contractor/Truck DriverIn Baker v. Bridgestone/Firestone, 2015 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 103 (Dec. 18, 2015), the Supreme Court of Iowa recently held that the discovery rule in workers’ compensation law applies not only...
Iowa High Court Says Discovery Rule Applies to Single Trauma Injuries Iowa High Court Says Discovery Rule Applies to Single Trauma InjuriesAn Iowa sole proprietor, who worked alongside his employees, was nevertheless still an employer—and not a co-employee—for purposes of the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Act, held a state appellate court [Mullen...
Iowa Sole Proprietor Working Alongside Others is Still Employer For Purposes of Workers’ Compensation Exclusive Remedy Defense Iowa Sole Proprietor Working Alongside Others is Still Employer For Purposes of Workers’ Compensation Exclusive Remedy DefenseAn commissioner’s award of permanent total disability benefits to an HVAC employee who claimed he suffered an electric shock while servicing a unit at a customer’s residence was supported by...
Iowa Court Affirms Rejection of “Uncontradicted” Expert Testimony Iowa Court Affirms Rejection of “Uncontradicted” Expert TestimonyIn an action alleging bad-faith denial of insurance benefits filed by an undocumented worker who sustained severe injuries in a work-related accident, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, construing Iowa...
8th Circuit: Insurer’s Refusal to Pay for Injured Undocumented Worker’s Groceries and Cable TV Not Bad-Faith Denial of Insurance Benefits 8th Circuit: Insurer’s Refusal to Pay for Injured Undocumented Worker’s Groceries and Cable TV Not Bad-Faith Denial of Insurance BenefitsA divided Court of Appeals of Iowa, in Iowa Insurance Institute v. Core Group of the Iowa Association for Justice, 2014 Iowa App. LEXIS 1067 (Oct. 29, 2014), has held...
Iowa: Surveillance Videos of Injured Workers Not Protected by Work Product Privilege Iowa: Surveillance Videos of Injured Workers Not Protected by Work Product PrivilegeWhere the only conditions precedent to receiving an annual bonus was simply being an “active employee on November 30th of the year the bonus was paid and the condition precedent...
Annual Service Bonus is Part of Iowa Employee’s Average Weekly Wage Computation Annual Service Bonus is Part of Iowa Employee’s Average Weekly Wage ComputationThe Supreme Court of Iowa recently held in relevant part that undocumented workers are not excluded from the Workers’ Compensation Act’s definition of “employee” and that the contract of employment...
Iowa: Undocumented Workers Are Protected by the Workers’ Compensation Act Iowa: Undocumented Workers Are Protected by the Workers’ Compensation ActReversing a decision by a state trial court that had, in turn, reversed an award of workers’ compensation benefits in favor of a seventy-nine-year-old part-time janitor who had suffered an...
Iowa: Injuries Sustained in Janitor’s Idiopathic Fall Found Compensable Iowa: Injuries Sustained in Janitor’s Idiopathic Fall Found CompensableThe Court of Appeals of Iowa, in Carter v. Alter Trading Corp., 2012 Iowa App. LEXIS 879 (Oct. 17, 2012), applying the state’s “equitable” apportionment of workers’ compensation death benefits...
Iowa: Court Approves “Uneven” Split of Death Benefits Between American and Honduran Dependents of Deceased Undocumented Worker Iowa: Court Approves “Uneven” Split of Death Benefits Between American and Honduran Dependents of Deceased Undocumented Worker