Rendering Aid to an Injured Worker: Potential Liability under the Dual Capacity/Dual Persona Theory

Employee of Uninsured Michigan Subcontractor May Not Sue General Contractor

SC Comp Act Prevents Recovery of UM Benefits by Injured Employee Against Co-Employee

NC Employer May Not Use Truck Driver’s “Misconduct” in Causing Accident as Excuse for Denying TTD Benefits

Where a North Carolina truck driver was terminated from employment because the employer determined that the driver had been at fault in causing an accident that resulted in his injuries,...

Kansas Court Says Dual Capacity Doctrine Not Applicable Where Employer Manufactured Machine Causing Employee’s Injury

Observing that in Kansas, like a number of other states, an employer may be liable in tort as a “third-party tortfeasor” if the employer has obligations to the employee independent...

California Comp Act Does Not Bar COVID-19 Wrongful Death Claim

In an important decision that is certain to garner attention well beyond California’s borders, a California appellate court denied a petition for writ of mandate filed by an employer who...

IL Supreme Court Sidesteps Important Issue on Technical Grounds

Dodging an issue that had spawned multiple amicus curiae briefs regarding an interesting (and important) question—whether an employee’s representation in a workers’ compensation settlement agreement that he had only suffered...

South Dakota Court “Borrows” Going and Coming Rule for Negligence Action

The Supreme Court of South Dakota recently affirmed a trial court’s decision that granted summary judgment to a municipality and a volunteer fire department on the basis that the department’s...

NY Court Says Collateral Estoppel Bars Injured Worker’s Subsequent Negligence Action Against Defendants

A New York appellate court affirmed a decision by a state trial court that granted defendants summary judgment in a negligence action filed against them related to the alleged malfunction...

Texas Employee’s Suit Against Non-Subscribing Employer Can Be Removed to Federal Court

A federal district court in Texas held that a Texas employee’s civil action against his non-subscribing employer did not arise out of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act (“TWCA”), in spite...

Louisiana Temp Worker Injured Two Hours After Reporting for Work May Not Sue Borrowing Employer in Tort

A Louisiana appellate court reversed a decision by a state trial court that had denied a corporate defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a negligence action filed against it by...

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,...