NM - High Court: Attorney Fee Cap Applies Per Injury
07/11/2025 | 0
The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that injured workers are entitled to an award of reasonable attorney fees, up to the statutory cap, for each accidental injury they suffer rather than for each accident or claim.
An appellate court found that a former attorney for the state was entitled to only a single award of $22,500 for injuries that flowed from a slip-and-fall, the maximum amount allowed under Section 52-1-54(I) per "single accidental injury." The high court reversed, saying that an allergic reaction and pulmonary embolism resulting from treatment of a postsurgical infection w...
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The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld a determination that a worker was not entitled to wage-loss benefits for a period when he was capable of employment and did not engage in a reasonable search for a job.
Case: Cable v. Consolidated Metco Inc., No. COA24-413, 06/18/2025, published.
Facts: Christopher Cable worked for Consolidated Metco Inc. at a facility in Bryson City. He injured his back at work in January 2020.
Cable saw a physician assistant two days later for an annual appointment, and he complained about back pain. The physician assistant diagnosed a lumbar strain and advi...
The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld a determination that the family of a truck driver found dead in the cab of a truck on Christmas was not entitled to benefits.
Case: Morsi v. JB Hunt Corp., No. 2024-WC-00399-COA, 06/24/2025, published.
Facts: Hani Morsi worked for JB Hunt Corp. as an over-the-road truck driver. On Dec. 16, 2019, JB Hunt sent Morsi to recover an abandoned truck in Meridian.
The next day, Morsi sent a message, saying he was sick and unable to drive. The fleet manager responded that Morsi needed to call “corporate safety.”
On Dec. 18, 2019, Morsi’s sch...
A New York appellate court upheld attorney fees based on a worker’s net schedule loss of use award as a lien.
Case: Matter of Cooper v. New York City Health & Hospital Corp., No. CV-24-1199, 06/18/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Tawon Cooper worked for the New York City Health & Hospital Corp. as a behavioral health associate. He suffered injuries in August 2020 when he was attacked by a patient. Cooper remained out of work until April 2022.
NYCHHC continued to pay his full wages until March 22, 2022.
After the submission of permanency reports and testimony fro...
One place a would-be settle-and-sue plaintiff is not going to find cannon fodder is for communications during mediation. California has stringent laws to protect confidentiality in mediation.
Evidence Code Division 9 Chapter 2 Sections 1115-1129 spell out in excruciating detail the ban on introducing protected communications and what is not included within the ban, such as an enforceable settlement agreement. Talking about evidence that is already admissible, such as discovery responses, does not make that evidence inadmissible.
The code requires attorneys handling civil ...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a 14% permanent partial disability award for a worker injured in a trip-and-fall accident.
Case: West Virginia Early Learning Academy at the Capitol LLC v. Rabel, No. 24-ICA-472 , 06/06/2025, published.
Facts: Susan Rabel worked for West Virginia Early Learning Academy at the Capitol LLC as a teacher’s aide.
She filed a workers’ compensation claim in May 2021, asserting that she had suffered injuries when she tripped after getting her foot caught in a gate at work.
A claims administrator for the employer’s in...
Policy committees in the California Senate and Assembly passed bills that would expand presumptions and salary continuation benefits and modify second injury fund eligibility requirements.
Lawmakers on Wednesday also voted to pass out of committee measures that would allow independent bill review for disputes over contractual discounts and allow prosecutors to file misdemeanor or felony charges against those accused of participating in kickback schemes.
The Assembly Insurance Committee voted 14-0 to pass SB 8, by Sen. Angelique Ashby, D-Sacramento, which would give Sacramento park range...
A ex-police officer accused of workers' compensation fraud is the target of a civil lawsuit filed by the City of Westminster, her former employer.
The city filed suit Tuesday against Nicole Brown, a former police officer charged with 15 felony counts of workers' compensation fraud, in a bid to recover more than $600,000 in benefits, investigative and legal costs related to the case.
The Orange County District Attorney’s office said Brown suffered a forehead abrasion in March 2022 while attempting to arrest a combative suspect. An emergency room doctor released her to ...
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California posted a full agenda for its 2025 Annual Conference, which will be held virtually on Thursday.
WCIRB President and CEO Andrea Coleman will deliver opening remarks before Executive Vice President and Chief Actuary Tony Milano and other members of the WCIRB's actuarial team discuss key cost drivers in the state and insights from the annual State of the System report.
Coleman will join former Orange County District Attorney Shaddi Kamiabipour to discuss strategies and tools to combat fraud.
The WCIRB also announced t...
The Montana Workers’ Compensation Court denied State Fund’s motion for summary judgment dismissing a worker’s claim for temporary partial disability benefits, finding that he had a “medically determined physical restriction.”
Benjamin Covington worked as a fire marshal for the Evergreen Fire District. He suffered injuries to his neck, shoulder and hands at work in July 2020.
Montana State Fund accepted liability for Covington’s injuries and paid medical benefits.
Covington went back to his job without restrictions.
In December 2022, Covington saw physici...
A New York appellate court upheld a determination that a teacher had voluntarily withdrawn from the labor market.
Case: Matter of Hurley v. Lawrence School District, No. CV-24-0787, 06/18/2025, published.
Facts: Peter Hurley worked for the Lawrence School District as a special education teacher. In October 2018, Hurley established a claim for workers' compensation benefits based on causally related asthma.
Hurley taught virtually from home during the 2020-2021 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The district then told him he would have to return to in-person classroom instruction ...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the denial of a worker’s request to expand the scope of her claim for a left wrist injury.
Case: Sayre v. Toyota Motor Manufacturing WV Inc., No. 24-ICA-514, 06/06/2025, published.
Facts: Tedra Sayre worked for Toyota Motor Manufacturing WV Inc. She filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting she had injured her wrist at work in February 2023.
A claims adjuster for Toyota’s insurance carrier accepted liability for a left wrist strain.
In March 2023, a nurse practitioner diagnosed Sayre with left carpal tunnel s...
The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that an employer should have been granted summary judgment dismissing a civil suit that asserted the company engaged in intentional misconduct that was substantially certain to result in the death of a worker.
Case: Tyson v. ELG Utica Alloys Inc., No. COA24-740, 06/18/2025, published.
Facts: Franklin Scott Tyson worked for ELG Utica Alloys Inc. He was killed in April 2020 by an explosive fire while operating the zirconium crusher at an ELG metal processing plant in Monroe.
Before the fatal explosion, there had been a few inconsequential, slow-b...
NC - Appeals Court Sanctions Insurer Over Denied Comp Death Claim
A North Carolina appeals court ordered a workers' compensation insurer and a furniture company to pay all litigation-related costs after the workplace shooting death of a woman whose family’s survivor benefits claim was denied and later accepted after the widower sued the company for wrongful death.
Phelifia “Michelle” Marlow was shot and killed by a co-worker in 2021 while working for TCS Designs Inc., a commercial furniture manufacturer in Hickory, North Carolina. The employer denied a workers' comp claim for survivor benefits, alleging that the shooting was d...
The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau said forecasts of employment growth, wage growth and unemployment rates through 2027 have held steady despite uncertainty surrounding tariffs and other factors.
Unemployment is projected to increase slightly this year, then decrease to "very low levels" in 2026 and 2027, the WCIRB said. The bureau also said its research has found that increases in unemployment are correlated with decreases in claim frequency.
"Given the current forecast of changes in the unemployment rate is small, there would also be a small impact on chan...
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer signed a bill allowing benefit payments to be made by direct deposit and increasing funding for the safety and inspection functions of the Division of Industrial Affairs.
Meyer on June 30 signed Senate Bill 145, which authorizes carriers and self-insured employers to pay total or partial disability benefits using direct deposit with permission of the injured worker.
The bill also allows full funding for the workplace safety and inspection functions of the Division of Industrial Affairs.
Current law allows the division to request that the secretary of finance r...
