KY - Split Supreme Court Reinstates Award for Miner's CT Injuries
10/27/2026 | 0
A divided Kentucky Supreme Court reinstated an administrative law judge’s award for a coal mine worker’s cumulative trauma injuries.
Nathan O’Bannon worked in the coal industry for 10 years. For the last four years of this employment, O’Bannon worked for Muhlenberg County Coal Co.
His duties varied over the years but always involved heavy physical labor and repetitive work.
O’Bannon filed his workers’ compensation claim in June 2024, a few days before his 33rd birthday.
He supported his claim with the opinion of Dr. John W. Gilbert, who had diagnose
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The Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld a trial judge’s decision to vacate a finding that the termination of an injured worker was for pretextual reasons.
Case: Menard Inc. v. Floriana, No. 2025AP1248, 10/20/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Michael Floriana Sr. injured his back while working for Menard Inc. as a forklift driver. After he returned to work with temporary restrictions, Floriana received a written warning for failing to use his forklift seat belt.
One week later, Floriana was disciplined for throwing a landscape rock. He later described the object as “a little pebb
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker who fell from a scaffold was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim.
Case: Latazela v. Compass Six Owner LLC, No. 806204/22, 10/15/2026, published.
Facts: Oscar Naula Latazela fell from a 6-foot-high scaffold platform at a construction site.
He said the scaffold moved, and he lost his balance, causing him to fall 11 to 12 feet to a concrete floor below.
Latazela testified that there were no designated anchor points where he could tie off his harness. Consequently, his fall was not restrained.
Procedural history: Latazel
A New York appellate court upheld an award of benefits to a worker for his injuries from a fall that left him unconscious and wedged between two buildings.
Case: Matter of Rendon v. Cosan Construction Corp., No. CV-25-0352, 10/15/2026, published.
Facts: Jose Rendon was working as a laborer for a construction project in June 2023 when he was found wedged in a narrow gap between two buildings at the site.
According to Rendon, he fell three stories through the gap after a suspended scaffold he was using shifted. Rendon claimed he landed on insulation at ground level and "rebounded" b
California’s Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund serves an important function: to cover treatment and benefits for injured workers whose employers illegally failed to secure comp coverage.
Unfortunately, UEBTF can make it an administrative nightmare for providers to treat the workers it exists to support.
In addition to disregarding payment rules and deadlines (given its murky status as a quasi-claims administrator), UEBTF will not reimburse a provider until the underlying case in chief has been settled, potentially creating sig
A New York appellate court upheld the dismissal of a worker’s claims against two entities he belatedly sought to add to his suit as defendants.
Case: Gonzalez v. Country Manor Apartments, No. 805017/22, 10/15/2026, published.
Facts: Luis Gonzalez allegedly suffered injuries while working at a property owned by Country Manor DNB LLC and Country Manor River LLC in November 2020.
Procedural history: Gonzalez filed suit against multiple defendants, seeking damages for his alleged injuries. He amended his complaint to add the Country Manor parties as defendants in September 2024. He also f
A former New York City corrections officer was sentenced to two years of probation for making a false statement in connection with his workers’ compensation claim.
Jovanny Concepcion, 34, will spend the first eight months of his probation on home detention, and he will perform 300 hours of community service, according to a statement from the New Your State Inspector General's office.
Concepcion must also make restitution of $232,427.
Concepcion began working for the city Department of Corrections in 2017 and had an annual salary of $60,355. He worked at Rikers Islan
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Texas indicted an osteopath and a retired U.S. Postal Service employee for allegedly submitting $19 million in fraudulent bills to the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, $17 million of which was paid.
The indictment alleges that Dr. Javaria Jabeen and Allendor Kenyon Brown billed for services that were "not eligible for reimbursement, not medically necessary, not performed and not provided." Among other things, the indictment alleges the scheme billed several hours of physical therapy that coincided with the time the claima
The California Division of Workers' Compensation on Friday proposed revised medical provider network rules that would add penalties for specified violations, strengthen requirements for documenting physician participation and give regulators additional grounds to suspend or revoke networks.
MPNs could face a new $1,000 administrative penalty each time a workers' compensation judge or the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board finds that authorization for treatment was unreasonably delayed because of a network error.
The division is also proposing a $500 penalty for failure to provid
A California appellate court ruled that an employer was not entitled to relief from its default judgment against him for failing to pay his workers’ compensation premiums.
Case: Creditors Adjustment Bureau Inc. v. Halajian, No. F090331, 10/20/2026, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: The Creditors Adjustment Bureau Inc., as the assignee for the State Compensation Insurance Fund, filed a complaint in Fresno County Superior Court against Barry Halajian.
The complaint alleged that Halajian did business as Industrial Electrical and that he owed SCIF $86,858.26 for four workers&rsqu
The Workers' Compensation Ethics Committee reported one finding of judicial misconduct in its latest annual report.
The committee reports that it considered and resolved three pending complaints from 2024. Of the 32 new complaints filed in 2025, the committee considered 30 and resolved 27, according to the report published Thursday.
Of the 30 cases considered, 11 resulted in investigations.
As with last year's report, the 2025 summary of committee activity does not describe any of the complaints in any detail.
Before 2023, the committee's annual reports included a section title
The California Division of Workers' Compensation posted an order revising the hospital outpatient department and ambulatory surgical center fee schedule to reflect changes made by Medicare.
The DWC on Thursday announced that it adopted the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services "Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Rates — Addenda" updated Oct. 13.
The update applies to services provided on or after Oct. 1.
Earlier in October, the division announced updates to the hospital outpatient and ASC section of the fee schedule that adopted:
The CMS Medicare Hospital Outpa
Evelyn V. McGill, executive director of the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission, is retiring Jan. 1 after nearly 14 years with the organization.
McGill joined the commission in 2013 and has helped it navigate significant growth and change, the WCC said, and the organization has maintained a "top workplace" designation for six consecutive years under her leadership.
“Evelyn is the architect of this organization’s success," said Wesley G. Marshall, chairman of the commission. "She is a steady and thoughtful
A California appellate court has ordered publication of its decision finding that a trial judge could not order an injured worker to reimburse her employer, since the employer did not perfect its lien before she negotiated a settlement and dismissed her case against a third-party tortfeasor.
The case, Slamer v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group, No. D086908, was released last month as an unpublished opinion.
Only published opinions are binding precedent in California.
Jennifer Slamer requested that the opinion be published on Oct. 16, and the court granted her request o
The Alabama Supreme Court upheld a verdict that an employer fired an injured employee in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim, but the trial judge must explain the rejection of the employer’s challenge.
Case: Envoy Air Inc. v. Creagh, No. SC-2025-0022, 10/16/2026, published.
Facts: Jada Creagh worked for Envoy Air Inc. She injured her shoulder in a fall at work in October 2018.
Creagh reported the injury to her shift supervisor, who allegedly told her that "the last person who had reported getting hurt on the job was no longer there."
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A New York appellate court upheld an award of death benefits for a bus driver who suffered a medical event and crashed.
Case: Greek v. Dansville Central School District, Nos. CV-23-2419 and CV-24-1269, 10/15/2026, published.
Facts: Walter Greek worked as a bus driver for the Dansville Central School District.
In April 2022, he was under the care of a cardiologist for premature ventricular contractions and cardiomyopathy, and these conditions had been found to pose no imminent risk of a syncopal episode or other symptoms that would affect his ability to safely operate a commercial vehic