ID - Supreme Court Denies Worker's Claim for Herniated Nucleus Pulposus
01/06/2026 | 0
The Idaho Supreme Court upheld the denial of a worker’s request for benefits for a herniated nucleus pulposus.
The case was Proulx v. Saveway Market Inc., No. 51856-2024.
Shasta Proulx worked at a Saveway Market. She suffered injuries at work in December 2019 while lifting a box of potatoes. She sought medical treatment and was diagnosed with a shoulder strain.
In January 2020, Proulx underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan and, for the first time, reported slight numbness and tingling in her extremities.
She began physical therapy and reported improvement. Proulx returned t...
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A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was not entitled to reinstatement of his indemnity benefits without evidence that he had reattached to the labor market.
Case: Matter of Ryan v. City of Albany Water Department, No. CV-25-0250, 12/11/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Alex Ryan worked for the City of Albany Water Department. He established a workers' compensation claim for a back injury resulting from a 2018 work-related accident and was awarded indemnity benefits for periods of temporary total and temporary partial disability.
In December 2019, a workers’...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld an award of benefits for a 13% permanent partial impairment for an injured health care worker.
Case: Hospice of Southern West Virginia Inc. v. Whitney, No. 25-ICA-184, 12/04/2025, published.
Facts: Melissa Whitney worked for Hospice of Southern West Virginia Inc. She filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that she had injured her back in September 2022 while catching a falling patient.
Whitney was diagnosed with a lumbar strain and lumbar radiculopathy.
A claims administrator for Hospice’s insurance carrier acce...
The Delaware Superior Court upheld the denial of a home health aide’s claim for benefits for her injuries from being hit by a patient with an iPad.
Case: Shaw-Hicks v. Bayada Home Health Care, No. K25A-06-001 JJC, 12/16/2025, published.
Facts: Shaneeda Shaw-Hicks worked for Bayada Home Health Care. In April 2023, a patient threw an iPad at her head, striking her in the right eye.
Shaw-Hicks saw Dr. Kristen Semenick, who reported that her retina appeared undamaged. Shaw-Hicks continued to have vision complaints, though, so Semenick referred her to Dr. John Butler.
After Shaw-Hicks fil...
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
It was 1945, World War II had been won, and our soldiers were returning home — many with crippling, permanent disabilities. Out of this history sprang California’s Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund.
Why do we need SIBTF?
The SIBTF is administered by the Division of Workers’ Compensation and covers the gap in PD compensation when a work injury increases an employee’s overall prior disability from an earlier, older injury. For instance, the prior injury could range from a previous work injury o...
A former City of San Francisco employee was sentenced to three years in state prison for defrauding the city out of more than $627,000, the District Attorney's Office announced.
Stanley Ellicott, 40, pleaded guilty last month to seven felony counts of public corruption in connection with a complex fraud scheme in which he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the city, where he worked as the assistant director of finance and technology for San Francisco's Workers' Compensation Division.
Ellicott enlisted a friend to register a fake busine...
WA - Comp Bill Would Expand 'Attending Provider' List
A bill in Washington state would broaden who can be recognized as an “attending provider” under its workers' compensation system.
H.B. 2243 would amend current law to include physical and occupational therapists among the health professionals eligible as attending providers for injured workers.
Under current law, “attending provider” status in Washington’s workers' compensation system is limited to licensed physicians, chiropractic practitioners, dentists, nurse practitioners and a handful of other health professionals.
H.B. 2243, prefile...
A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of an insurance carrier’s claims against an attorney and his firm for representing a widow who fraudulently sought benefits under the Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act.
Veronica McRae filed a claim against the U.S. Department of Labor, seeking benefits under the Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act for the death of her alleged husband following an injury he suffered during his employment at the Port of Oakland.
The parties participated in mediation and reached a settlement resolving McRae’s c...
A Louisiana appellate court ruled that an automobile liability insurance provider had no duty to cover an insured’s employee for his alleged injuries from a motor vehicle accident.
Case: Carter v. Blue Hill Specialty Insurance Co., No. 2025 CA 0515, 12/17/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Deshun Carter filed a personal injury action against Forward Loads LLC and its automobile liability provider, Blue Hill Specialty Insurance Co. He also named Jamar Hooker, Talish Josie Watts and USAA General Indemnity Co. as defendants.
Carter alleged that on Jan. 11, 2023, he was a pass...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the closure of a worker’s claim for temporary total disability benefits after a doctor opined that he had reached maximum medical improvement and was capable of returning to work.
Case: Newborn v. Gestamp North America Inc., No. 25-ICA-179, 12/04/2025, published.
Facts: Everick Newborn worked for Gestamp North America Inc. He injured his back at work in February 2024. Newborn sought treatment and was diagnosed with an acute lumbar myofascial strain.
A claims administrator for Gestamp’s insurance carrier accepted liabilit...
A New York appellate court partially revived a worker’s Labor Law claim for his alleged injuries from tripping over asphalt debris at a construction site.
Case: Ceja v. Posillico Civil Inc., No. 158010/18, 12/11/2025, published.
Facts: Consolidated Edison Co. of New York served as the general contractor on a project to repair a gas line to a private residence. Con Ed delegated the repair work to Posillico Civil Inc.
Posillico then contracted with Morley Mechanical Inc. for laborers. Morley surrendered control over its workers, and Posillico assumed supervision and control over the wor...
The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that a rental-car employee who fractured her nose in a workplace vehicle collision is entitled to workers' compensation coverage, rejecting the employer’s argument that the injury was not work-related.
In Lane v. Avis Budget Group Inc., the court held that Avis Budget Group failed to present substantial evidence to overcome the statutory presumption that Roxanne Lane’s nasal fracture was caused by a 2014 on-the-job accident, when another vehicle backed into the Avis van she was driving at Honolulu’s airport.
Lane testified that the im...
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said two construction companies face more than $300,000 in combined fines for allegedly exposing a crew of concrete workers to life-threatening cave-ins and excavation hazards and ignoring an order to stop work at the site.
The department said employees of VS Concrete were working next to a 22-foot-high, nearly vertical dirt wall without adequate cave-in protection. The workers were in a gap next to a concrete foundation with no way to escape if the dirt wall collapsed.
L&I said it issued a stop-work order, ...
The average rate charged for workers' compensation coverage in California stabilized during the first nine months of 2025, with no evidence of an immediate cost increase following the first rate hike in a decade, according to the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau.
Average charged rates fell steadily from $3.19 per $100 of payroll in 2014 to $1.56 in 2024, the WCIRB said in its latest quarterly experience report.
"Based on the first nine months of 2025, rates remain flat compared to 2024, indicating the downward trend has stabilized," the bureau said.
The ...
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that an employer against whom a workers’ compensation claim has been made is an “interested party” entitled to confidential unemployment records concerning the claimant.
Case: Kollinger v. Miller Broach Inc., No. 368368, Washington v. Euclid Industries Inc., No. 368543, Bellamy v. Sundance Beverage Co., No. 368704, 12/16/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Christopher Kollinger, Marvin Washington and David Belamy Jr. separately filed workers’ compensation claims against their respective employers.
The employers iss...
A New York appellate court ruled that the Workers’ Compensation Board needed to revisit a worker’s request for reopening and/or a rehearing since it failed to address all the basis she had raised for relief the first time around.
Case: Matter of Fuller-Astarita v. ABA Transportation Holding Co., No. CV-24-0366, 12/11/2025, published.
Facts: Joanne Fuller-Astarita worked for the ABA Transportation Holding Co. as a bus driver’s assistant. She suffered injuries after being struck by a bus owned by her employer in 2016.
Procedural history: ABA filed a workers’ compensati...
