OH - Injured Worker Establishes Entitlement to Expand Scope of Claim
12/30/2025 | 0
An Ohio appellate court upheld a trial judge’s determination that an injured worker should have been allowed to expand the scope of her claim.
Rhonda Schmidt worked for Lincoln Electric Co. She filed a workers’ compensation claim in 2016, seeking benefits for a respiratory illness allegedly caused by her exposure to chemicals at work.
The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation allowed the claim for occupational asthma, sinusitis and chemical sensitivity.
In 2023, Schmidt moved for additional allowances of spinal stenosis in the cervical spine, osteoporosis of the cervic...
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A Louisiana appellate court ruled that res judicata did not bar a worker’s claim against his alleged employer, whether as an individual or as a person running a business.
Case: Crowley v. Rojas, No. 56,647-WCA, 12/17/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Raymond Crowley filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that he was injured while working for Cesar Rojas, who did business as Rojas Paint.
Crowley claimed that he broke his ankle in September 2020 while cutting a tree on Rojas’ property.
Rojas denied employing Crowley at the time of the alleged ...
A New York appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment dismissing a worker’s Labor Law claim for his alleged injuries from a fall from a ladder.
Case: Cerro v. 97 Port Richmond Ave LLC, No. 2023-09961, 12/10/2025, published.
Facts: In December 2017, 97 Port Richmond Ave LLC purchased adjacent properties in Staten Island. Port hired Justino Landscaping Inc. to remove a tree next to a garage on one of the properties.
Jose Cerro worked for Justino. He allegedly suffered injuries when he fell from a ladder while cutting the tree’s branches.
Procedural history: Cerro filed su...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld an award of benefits for a nurse who injured her ankle as she hurried to a rapid response call across an uneven floor.
Case: Logan General Hospital LLC v. Bryant, No. 25-ICA-151, 12/04/2025, published.
Facts: Ashley Bryant worked for Logan General Hospital LLC as a nurse. She allegedly injured her ankle while answering a “rapid response” call in September 2024.
According to Bryant, she was “hastily” moving through a sloped, “unlevel” tiled floor area to get to the patient in need of the ...
Sacramento, CA – [December 10, 2025] – Today, POWER proudly announced its official launch as a laser-focused non-profit organized to take direct action against fraud and criminal activity in California’s temporary staffing industry.
“One of the biggest crimes taking place in California’s workforce is hiding in plain sight. The temporary staffing industry has become a largely unregulated playground for criminals—one ...
Pennsylvania’s statutory employer doctrine, a cornerstone of the state's Workers’ Compensation Act, is once again at the center of a fierce legal and political battle, this time following the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s decision in Yoder v. McCarthy Construction Inc.
The statutory employer doctrine says general contractors qualifying as statutory employers are entitled to tort immunity from suits by the employees of subcontractors, even when the general contractor does not pay workers’ compensation benefits directly to the subcontractor’s em...
A Texas appellate court ruled that a refinery owner should have been granted summary judgment dismissing a worker’s claims over injuries from exposure to toxic fumes.
Although Jake Winters introduced evidence that ExxonMobil Corp. knew about the potential risk of a flash fire inside a vessel used to process petroleum naphtha, he failed to demonstrate that the company believed he would suffer specific injuries, which is required to invoke the intentional tort exemption to exclusive remedy.
Winters, a Texas resident, worked for Brown & Root Industrial Services. He allegedly suffered ...
A divided Alabama Supreme Court denied a petition for review of a trial judge’s decision allowing a worker to proceed with civil claims against his co-workers for allegedly removing safety devices from a machine that resulted in the mangling of his hand.
Case: In re Jackson v. Griffin, No. SC-2025-0443, 12/19/2025, published.
Facts: Gary Jackson worked for Alabama Metal Industries Corp. He suffered serious injuries, including the loss of three fingers, when his hand was caught in a leveler machine in September 2021.
AMICO purchased the leveler in the late 1990s. It then adde...
A divided New York Court of Appeals ruled that a subcontractor on a construction project was not obligated to indemnify a general contractor for injuries that a different subcontractor’s employee suffered while using the first subcontractor’s broken ladder without permission.
Case: Dibrino v. Rockefeller Center North Inc., No. 103, 12/28/2025, published.
Facts: Dominick Dibrino worked as a carpenter for Jacobson & Co. Inc. In June 2019, Dibrino was working on a renovation of office space for Major League Baseball's headquarters.
JRM Construction Management LLC ...
The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that an employer abandoned its statute of limitations defense and tacitly renounced prescription by initiating regular and consistent workers’ compensation payments after the prescriptive period expired.
Case: Johnson v. AECOM Amentum Government Services, No. 2025-CC-00171, 12/18/2025, published.
Facts: Lealon Johnson worked as a mechanic for AECOM Amentum Government Services. He suffered injuries at work on June 12, 2020, when he tripped over the hose of a pressure washer.
Johnson did not initially lose any time from work, as Amentum placed him on a ...
The Mountain States Policy Center, which describes itself as promoting free enterprise, individual liberty and limited government, argues that eliminating Wyoming's monopolistic workers' compensation system would lower rates.
Wyoming, Washington, North Dakota and Ohio are the four monopolistic states in which businesses buy coverage from a state-run fund instead of private carriers.
"North Dakota and Ohio have managed to keep their rates low," writes Marta Mossberg, a research fellow for the Mountain States Policy Center. "But Wyoming's socialist approach has...
The Tennessee Supreme Court, in reversing lower court decisions dismissing a sales representative's negligence action, created an initial test to assess the nature of a vendor agreement before delving into whether a vendor can be considered a statutory employer.
To determine whether Section 50-6-113 applies, the high court formally adopted the predominant purpose test for business relationships involving goods and services, with the warning that the written contract doesn't necessarily dictate the outcome. Courts must assess whether services rendered are incidental to the sale of good...
TN - Court Orders Psychiatric Care After Cement Truck Rollover
A Tennessee workers' compensation judge ordered a concrete supplier to provide a panel of psychiatrists to an injured truck driver, finding that she is likely to prevail at trial on her claim that a traumatic rollover crash caused compensable mental injuries.
In an expedited order issued Tuesday, a judge with the Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims ruled that the employee, who survived a downhill brake failure and rollover in a cement mixer, is entitled to psychiatric treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder linked to the accident, accor...
A New York appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment for a worker on his Labor Law claim for a fall from a ladder.
Case: Aguilar v. 58 Gerry St. LLC, No. 2024-06611, 12/10/2025, published.
Facts: Jose Aguilar allegedly sustained injuries when he fell from a ladder while working on a construction project.
Procedural history: Aguilar filed suit against 58 Gerry St. LLC, asserting a claim for a violation of Labor Law Section 240(1).
Section 240(1) imposes absolute liability on property owners, general contractors or their agents for failing to provide safety devices to protect worker...
A federal appellate court said an administrative law judge sufficiently explained the medical opinions and evidence that supported a finding that a worker was totally disabled by pneumoconiosis arising from working in a coal mine.
Case: Clinchfield Coal Co. et al. v. Director Office of Workers' Compensation Programs et al., No. 24-1875, 12/23/2025, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: Johnny L. Wallace filed a claim for black lung benefits in July 2019. Clinchfield Coal Co. disputed a proposed order awarding benefits and requested a hearing.
After the hearing, an administrative la...
Injured workers would be allowed to enter settlements regardless of their age, and the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries would be required to disclose more information relating to its annual rate proposal, under a pair of bills introduced by a Spokane Valley Republican.
Rep. Suzanne Schmidt on Tuesday introduced HB 2189, which would eliminate the requirement that injured workers be at least 50 to initiate a claim resolution settlement.
Reforms enacted in 2011 allowed workers 55 and older to enter structured settlements and included provisions automatically lowering the ...
