SD - Split Supreme Court Awards PTD Benefits to Worker for Electric Shock Injuries
10/21/2024 | 0
A divided South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that a worker was entitled to permanent total disability benefits for his electric shock injuries, finding he developed both a cardiac condition and numbness in his hand as a result of the jolt he suffered in 2018.
Michael Arneson worked for GR Management LLC. He suffered an electric shock injury in July 2018 when a commercial exhaust fan shorted, sending 300 amperes and 440 volts of electricity into his right hand, exiting his left foot.
Arneson went to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with burns to four fingers of his right hand. At that...
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A Texas appellate court dismissed an insurance carrier’s challenge to a trial judge’s finding of compensability for a worker’s death, ruling that the judgment entered had been void.
Case: Texas Mutual Insurance Co. v. Laird, No. 03-24-00369-CV, 10/16/2024, published.
Facts and procedural history: After William Laird died in a work-related accident, his widow filed a workers’ compensation claim on behalf of herself and her three minor children.
Laird’s employer had workers’ compensation coverage with Texas Mutual Insurance Co., and the carrier contested th...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a determination that a worker was not entitled to an increase in his permanent partial disability award for occupational pneumoconiosis.
Case: Lucey v. Murray American Energy Inc., No. 24-ICA-102, 10/01/2024, published.
Facts: Mark Lucey worked in the coal industry for more than 38 years. His last employer was Murray American Energy Inc.
Dr. Melvin Saludes diagnosed Lucey with occupational pneumoconiosis in June 2013.
The Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board issued a report in January 2017 concluding that there was sufficient evi...
A New York appellate court upheld a 45% schedule loss of use award for a worker’s knee injury.
Case: Matter of Wright v. Elmer W. Davis Inc., No. CV-23-0342, 10/03/2024, published.
Facts and procedural history: Tyler Wright worked for Elmer W. Davis Inc. He established a workers’ compensation claim for an injury to his right knee.
In January 2019, Wright underwent surgery on his knee. His surgeon reported that he was at maximum medical improvement as of June 2021 with a 45% schedule loss of use due to his range of motion deficits.
Dr. Martin Gingras examined Wright in Sept...
Now that the 2024 California legislative session is over, what did we learn this year about workers’ comp at the Capitol? What follows are some takeaways and references to some of the bills that were passed and others that died.
Applicants' attorneys and labor advocates received legislative support for some of their proposals. But the employer/insurer coalition continues to be powerful, so most applicant-side workers’ comp efforts were rebuffed in 2024.
Bills passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom included the following:
SB 1299, a bill to ...
The California Highway Patrol announced that a former captain was arrested on suspicion of workers' compensation insurance fraud and theft.
Matthew Stover, 51, was arrested without incident in Folsom Thursday on charges that include making false statements to obtain compensation, knowingly presenting a false insurance claim, failing to disclose events affecting benefits, and perjury.
Stover, a 22-year veteran, was taken off work a couple of days after he filed a work comp claim in June 2023. CHP said its fraud investigations unit opened a probe after identifying potential fraud.
Th...
The Workers Compensation Research Institute reports that average medical payments per claim in California were 10% below the median of a 17-state study.
California saw little change in payments per claim for most key professional services between 2017 and 2022, with the exception of recent growth in payments for evaluation and management office visits, WCRI said.
Prices paid for professional services increased from 2020 to 2022, but that was largely offset by decreases in utilization. WCRI added that the decrease in use of medical services primarily included major surgery, facility services ...
Federal workplace safety officials fined an Alabama countertop installation company $29,035, saying it could have prevented a worker's death by following federal safety standards.
John Hopper, 33, died in March after he was struck by a stone slab that weighed thousands of pounds.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said employees at Huntsville Granite and Marble were using a forklift to move stone slabs off a storage rack. The agency said an improperly secured load and a damaged rigging hook with a missing safety latch contributed to the fatal accident.
“Huntsville G...
The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that an employer can face civil liability for the death of an employee who was shot at work by a colleague.
Solo Cup Operating Corp. has a food and beverage packaging product plant in Conyers. Taurus Andrews worked there.
On Dec. 13, 2019, Andrews discovered a small bag containing several identification cards in a men’s restroom. Andrews turned the bag over to his supervisor, who then took it to another supervisor. The second supervisor returned the bag to Camron Golden, who also worked at the factory. Before that day, Andrews and Golden were not...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a 1% permanent partial disability award for a worker’s knee injury.
Case: Davis v. Charleston Area Medical Center Inc., No. 24-ICA-131, 10/01/2024, published.
Facts: Thomas Davis worked for the Charleston Area Medical Center Inc. He sought treatment in the hospital’s emergency department in March 2021, asserting he had injured his right knee earlier that month while working.
Davis saw Dr. Tony Majestro in May 2021. He requested a magnetic resonance imaging scan.
The MRI revealed a complex tear of the medial meniscu...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker struck by falling materials was not entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim.
Case: Shewprasad v. KSK Construction Group LLC, No. 2023-03506, 10/02/2024, published.
Facts: Melvin Shewprasad allegedly suffered injuries when a cluster of steel railings that had been stacked vertically against one another fell on him while he was working at a construction site.
Procedural history: Shewprasad filed suit against KSK Construction Group LLC and 848 Development LLC, asserting a claim for a violation of Labor Law Section 241(6).
Section...
A New York appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a worker’s Labor Law claim and revived a defendant’s third-party indemnification claim.
Case: Pitang v. Beacon Broadway Co. LLC, No. 27350/17, 10/01/2024, published.
Facts: Manguilbe Pitang suffered injuries after a fall from the flatbed of a parked truck while working on a construction project.
Pitang lost his balance when he deliberately stood on unsecured lumber near the edge of the flatbed so that he could reach up and hand a soda to a fellow worker on a sidewalk bridge. The lumber unexpectedly moved when Pitang...
The California Department of Insurance announced that the owner of a private vocational school was charged with 11 felonies for allegedly submitting fraudulent bills to work comp carriers and failing to provide adequate training to injured workers.
Paul S. Ramirez, 59, owns P. Steve Ramirez Vocational Training Centers and a second business that provides vocational counseling.
"Ramirez gained access to students at the counseling center and then self-referred them directly to his educational institution, allowing him to maximize his billing," the department said in a statement.
The ...
Frequency increases modestly but consistently as temperatures climb, according to a study by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
NCCI said that starting around 50 degrees, there is about a 1% increase in injuries for every five-degree increase in temperature.
There are also more injuries on days when the high temperature is around freezing and frequency is lowest on days between 40-60 degrees and days when the temperature is well below 0.
At the same time, NCCI said precipitation leads to high claim frequency on freezing days but lessens the frequency increase on warm or hot day...
Federal workplace safety inspectors fined a tire maker in Georgia $271,930 for safety violations allegedly uncovered during the investigation of a fatal accident.
Steven Brookins, 57, died April 10 at a Kumho Tire facility in Macon when a machine he was working on accidentally started.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said its investigation determined that Kumho bypassed safety procedures intended to prevent machines from starting up during maintenance.
"The company relied on basic on/off controls and sensors instead of following proper safety measures," OSHA said...
All but four of the 130 insurance carriers that the Texas Division of Workers' Compensation evaluated through its performance-based oversight assessment scored average or better.
The division on Thursday reported that 44 carriers were deemed high performers and another 82 were deemed average.
Carriers that reported 20 or more initial payments of temporary income benefits between Jan. 1 and June 30 were included in the 2024 performance-based oversight review.
Scores were calculated using the ratio of timely items to total items reviewed multiplied by the weight assigned to different cate...