NM Statute Limiting Secondary Mental Impairments to Maximum Allowable Duration of Benefits for Original Physical Impairment Violates Equal Protection

NY Court Backs Away From Always Requiring Abnormal Stress in COVID-19 Psych Claims

IA Supreme Court: Nature of Damages, Not Framing of Tort, Determines Viability of Civil Action Against Employer

No Mental Injury Recovery When Ohio Corrections Officer was Groped by Inmate

New Mexico Cannot Differentiate Between Secondary Mental Benefits and Secondary Physical Benefits

Capping secondary mental impairment benefits—pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 52-1-41(C)(2015)—to the number of weeks allowable for the worker’s original physical injury [e.g., 150 weeks where the mental injury is secondary...

NY Firefighter Successfully Proved PTSD Claim Based Upon Multiple Gruesome Incidents

Noting that a medical opinion need not be expressed with absolute medical certainty as long as it signified a probability of the underlying cause that was supported by a rational...

Iowa Court Affirms Denial of Death Benefits in Suicide Case

An Iowa appellate court affirmed a district court’s decision affirming the denial of death benefits to a widow whose husband committed suicide mere hours after he had been terminated from...

Oregon Software Worker Fails to Establish Mental Disorder Claim

Illustrating the substantial barrier that many Oregon claimants contend has been erected via the combination of the state’s “clear and convincing evidence” standard and its “major contributing cause” requirement [see...

AZ Police Officer’s PTSD Claim Fails Since Stress was not Unexpected

In a split decision, an Arizona appellate court affirmed a finding by the state’s Industrial Commission that a police officer failed to establish a compensable workers’ compensation claim based on...

W. Va Claimant’s PTSD Claim Fails in Spite of Her Use of Earlier Case as a “Template”

In a deeply divided (3-2) memorandum decision, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed a decision rejecting the claim of a cashier at a gaming parlor who contended...

Florida First Responder’s PTSD Claim is Untimely Filed

A Florida appellate court held the 52-week filing requirement found in § 112.1815(5)(d), Fla. Stat., operated as a statute of repose, and not as a statute of limitations. Under the...

Foreseeability of Ohio Worker's Depression is Not a Factor in Judging Compensability of Mental Condition

An Ohio appellate court reversed a trial court’s determination that an injured worker had not sustained a compensable mental injury–Depressive Disorder, not otherwise specified–stemming from her original 2007 knee injury,...