The Supreme Court of Idaho, construing Idaho Code § 72-438(14)(b), which generally provides firefighters with a rebuttable presumption that certain listed cancers have a causal connection with the employment, held...
To Rebut Idaho’s Cancer Presumption Favoring Firefighters, Employer Must Offer Evidence that Cancer was Not Caused by Employment To Rebut Idaho’s Cancer Presumption Favoring Firefighters, Employer Must Offer Evidence that Cancer was Not Caused by EmploymentA decision by the New York Workers’ Compensation Board that a claimant should have been aware of the work-related nature of his back pain and injury in June 2017, at...
NY Board Errs in Setting Disablement Date for Repetitive Stress Injury NY Board Errs in Setting Disablement Date for Repetitive Stress InjuryStressing that it is for the New York Workers’ Compensation Board to weigh the evidence—including the medical evidence—and that the Board’s findings will be upheld if supported by substantial evidence,...
Ex Parte Letter to Treating Physician Sinks NY Truck Driver’s Occupational Disease Claim Ex Parte Letter to Treating Physician Sinks NY Truck Driver’s Occupational Disease ClaimObserving that Utah has recognized the intentional tort exception to exclusivity in cases falling under the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA), but had not (yet) extended the exception to cases...
Utah High Court Hints that Intentional Tort Exception to Exclusivity Might Not Apply to Occupational Disease Claims Utah High Court Hints that Intentional Tort Exception to Exclusivity Might Not Apply to Occupational Disease ClaimsThe Superior Court of Delaware (New Castle) held that the issue of whether an employee’s fatal COVID-19 infection was an injury or occupational disease must be determined by the state’s...
Delaware Board Must Decide if COVID-Related Claim is Compensable Delaware Board Must Decide if COVID-Related Claim is CompensableWhere an employee retired in 2014, and was determined to be disabled by an occupational disease in 2016, at which time his employer had no workers’ compensation policy in effect–and...
NY Court Remands Case Where Occupational Disease Disablement Date Was Close to Date Policy Lapsed NY Court Remands Case Where Occupational Disease Disablement Date Was Close to Date Policy LapsedA North Carolina appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Industrial Commission that denied an employee’s claim for an alleged occupational disease due to excessive stress and other pressures...
NC Claims Rep's Occupational Disease Claim for Anxiety and Depression Fails NC Claims Rep's Occupational Disease Claim for Anxiety and Depression FailsIt may be a long shot, but a recent New York appellate decision may have opened the door, if ever so slightly, to compensability of COVID-19 claims on the basis...
Opinion Mondays: Recent NY Case May Open Door for Compensability of COVID-19 Claims Without Need for Presumption Opinion Mondays: Recent NY Case May Open Door for Compensability of COVID-19 Claims Without Need for PresumptionThe world is transfixed by a new enemy: the coronavirus. I just received an email from my bank reminding me how I can use my accounts’ electronic features so as...
For Workers’ Comp World, Coronavirus is a Real “Snake in the Grass” For Workers’ Comp World, Coronavirus is a Real “Snake in the Grass”In Missouri, where employers have elected to accept mesothelioma liability pursuant to a special provision of the state Act — Mo. Rev. Stat. § 287.200.4(3)(a)(2013) — the employer becomes liable...
Missouri Claimants Not Entitled to Statutory “Enhanced Benefit” for Worker’s Mesothelioma Missouri Claimants Not Entitled to Statutory “Enhanced Benefit” for Worker’s MesotheliomaA Washington appellate court affirmed a finding by the state’s Department of Labor and Industries (”the Department”) that an employee could not prevail in her occupational disease claim for post-traumatic...
Washington Claimant May Not Recover for PTSD as an Occupational Disease Washington Claimant May Not Recover for PTSD as an Occupational DiseaseIn a divided decision, the Court of Appeals of Maryland yesterday held that since there was no showing that a first responder had a concomitant preexisting condition, and since he...
Maryland First Responder’s Degenerative Knee Condition is Occupational “Disease” Maryland First Responder’s Degenerative Knee Condition is Occupational “Disease”