NH - Supreme Court Upholds Widow's Claim for Firefighter's Cancer Death
09/16/2025 | 0
The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that a widow’s claim for death benefits was timely and that an award was supported by competent evidence.
Michael Galimberti served as a volunteer firefighter with the Farmington and Middleton fire departments from 2002 until around 2008, when he began working full time.
In 2008, he also worked full time at Pease Tradeport in Portsmouth. The State of New Hampshire was his employer there.
Galimberti underwent a medical exam before he began working at Pease Tradeport and was found to be cancer-free.
In February 2019, Galimberti sough...
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West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled that a worker was not entitled to additional temporary total disability benefits or to expand the scope of her claim, but she should not have been denied a cold compression therapy unit and shoulder wrap for her compensable injury.
Case: Gee v. ACNR Resources Inc., No. 25-ICA-92, 08/29/2025, published.
Facts: Katie Gee worked for ACNR Resources Inc. She went to the hospital on Jan. 26, 2024, and reported that a rock about the size of a football had fallen on her back while she was at work.
A computed tomography scan of the chest...
The Supreme Court of Tennessee’s Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel ruled that a worker’s failure to challenge both bases given by a judge for denying her motion to set aside a settlement was fatal to her appeal.
Case: Taylor v. John and Stephanie Ingram LLC, No. M2024-01348-SC-R3-WC, 09/11/2025, published.
Facts: Lauren Taylor suffered injuries when a horse kicked her in the head while she was working for John and Stephanie Ingram LLC.
Taylor initially received medical care in Georgia, where a probate court appointed her mother as her conservator and guardian.
T...
A New York appellate court ruled that a Labor Law defendant was entitled to partial summary judgment dismissing a claim against it, but it was not entitled to summary judgment on its indemnification claim against a co-defendant.
Case: Santiago v. Genting New York LLC, No. 157665/19 595448/20, 09/11/2025, published.
Facts: Edwin Santiago allegedly suffered injuries when he and his co-workers were using two dollies to move a crate of glass panels toward a hoist elevator on the ground floor of a building that was being constructed.
The entrance to the hoist elevator was not level to the g...
Lawmakers appear primed to send a new bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk that would create a regulatory framework for professional employer organizations in California.
Assembly Bill 1515 would bar businesses from advertising themselves as PEOs unless they are registered with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which will require payment of an initial registration fee. The purpose of the registration would be to ensure that the state can enforce labor laws.
The bill made it through the Assembly and has since made significant progress in the state Senate, with the Senate...
The South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission announced that Kristen McRee was appointed executive director, effective Nov. 1.
McRee joined the commission in March 2021 as a staff attorney. She was promoted to director of administrative services in August 2023.
Before joining the commission, McRee practiced workers' compensation law, representing both injured workers and employers and carriers.
She has served as a staff member in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and a legal staff member for the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.
She earned her bac...
The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation said compliance and investigations audits in 2026 will focus on timeliness and accuracy of benefit payments, reimbursement for medical services and data reporting.
The review of benefit payments will focus on whether carriers accurately paid lifetime income and death benefits and accurately reported claims data to the division. The agency said it will draw sample data from claims for injuries that occurred between Sept. 1, 2018, and April 30, 2025, and compare that with wage statements, indemnity payment records and adjuster notes provided by ca...
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is hosting its annual Medical & Health Symposium from Wednesday through Friday.
The free virtual event will focus on navigating occupational health challenges, including neurological injuries, traumatic brain injuries and artificial intelligence in work comp claims.
The virtual event offers continuing education credits to more than 20 professions, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, attorneys, case managers and physical therapists.
For more information, or to register, click here.
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The California Assembly unanimously concurred in amendments to a bill that would direct the Division of Workers' Compensation to create some medical-legal templates.
The Assembly voted Friday to pass an amended AB 1293, by Assemblymember Greg Wallis, R-Bermuda Dunes.
Wallis amended the measure while it was in the Senate to require templates created by the DWC to include all statutory requirements for a medical-legal report and to say parties aren't required to use the division's templates to communicate with a panel-qualified medical evaluator.
The Senate voted 40-0 to pass the ...
The Mississippi Supreme Court determined that the state Department of Transportation was entitled to immunity from civil liability for the death of an employee of another government entity who had received workers’ compensation benefits for his fatal injuries.
Johnny Patterson worked for the Lee County School District as a school resource officer. On Jan. 13, 2022, he was directing traffic on Highway 45 when a motorist collided with the back of Patterson’s car, propelling Patterson’s car into him. Patterson later died of his injuries.
The motorist was driving over the ...
A California appeals court last week ordered publication of its decision from earlier this month, finding that a maintenance worker injured while boarding a vessel at a yacht club can pursue tort claims against his employer.
The 2nd District Court of Appeals decision in Ranger v. Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, B315302, was originally released on Sept. 3 as an unpublished opinion. Only published opinions are binding precedent in California.
Brian Ranger requested on Tuesday that the decision be published, and the court granted his request the next day.
The case arose from his injuries fr...
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that an injured worker does not need to submit evidence that he is not entitled to workers’ compensation in the employer's state for an order holding the Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund secondarily liable for benefits.
Case: Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund v. Aguilar, No. 908 C.D. 2024, 09/09/2025, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: Luis Aguilar allegedly suffered injuries in March 2022 when he fell off a roof while working as a laborer for Joe Miller Construction Co. Aguilar filed a workers’ compensation claim, but JMC...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals overturned a decision by the Board of Review that found an insurance carrier did not have to pay a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services lien.
Case: Crofford v. Koppers Industries Inc., No. 24-ICA-484, 08/29/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Jay Crofford worked for Koppers Industries Inc. He filed an occupational disease claim after he contracted chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
A claims administrator for Koppers’ insurance carrier denied the claim, finding that Crofford’s disease was not related to his empl...
California lawmakers voted to send Gov. Gavin Newsom bills expanding workers’ compensation coverage for farmworkers with heat injuries and dependents of fallen first responders.
Also on Thursday, the Senate passed an amended bill directing the Division of Workers’ Compensation to create medical-legal templates for qualified medical evaluators.
The Assembly voted 61-17 to concur with Senate amendments and send the governor AB 1336, which would create a presumption that a heat injury is compensable when the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board finds that an agricultural emp...
States continued to consider proposals to expand the acceptance of mental injuries in workers' compensation this year, according to a report by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
The results have been mixed, the report shows.
In an overview of workers' compensation-related legislation considered through July 31, mental injuries topped the list of themes, with such injuries suffered by first responders the most common.
According to NCCI’s analysis, seven states have or are considering legislation to establish coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder and/or other...
The reimbursement rate for injured workers who travel to medical appointments is increasing to 70 cents per mile from 67 cents per mile, effective Jan. 1, the Oregon Workers' Compensation Division announced.
Insurers must include a form to request reimbursement with each independent medical examination notice they send to injured workers. Carriers can create their own form or use the division’s Form 3921.
The standard lodging reimbursement rate of $110 per night and the standard meal reimbursement rate of $68 per day are not changing.
Bulletin No. 112 with the latest reimbur...
