TX - Judge Can't Vacate Jury's AOE/COE Determination in Negligence Case
08/25/2025 | 0
A jury's finding that employees of a Mazda dealership were not acting in the course and scope of their employment when one seriously injured the other in a car accident is supported by the evidence and can't be vacated by a judge, a Texas appeals court ruled.
Irma Vanessa Villegas suffered a traumatic brain injury and paralysis in December 2013 after a co-worker at Rudolph Mazda, Christian Ruiz, hit her with his vehicle.
Villegas and Ruiz were among the salespeople who stayed at the dealership after their shifts ended to have a beer and socialize. As they were leaving, Ruiz accidenta...
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An Ohio appellate court ruled that a widow was not entitled to an enhanced award of benefits for a violation of a specific safety regulation, since she relied on a regulation that was inapplicable to the circumstances of her husband's death.
Case: State ex rel. Hudson v. City of Cleveland, No. 24AP-207, 08/14/2025, published.
Facts: Sean Hudson worked for the City of Cleveland as an arborist. He was crushed by a falling tree stump while working at the Romanian Cultural Garden in July 2021.
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s Public Employment Risk Reduction...
A New York appellate court overturned partial summary judgment for a worker on his Labor Law claims for his alleged fall on a staircase.
Case: Gomez v. Tilden Estates LLC, No. 2024-04352, 08/20/2025, published.
Facts: Yeison Moncion Gomez allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project at a property owned by Tilden Estates LLC.
The general contractor for the project was LG Construction Management Inc. Gomez worked for Veebee Cooling, a subcontractor for the project.
He was carrying an air conditioning compressor unit up a staircase to the roof of the premises with a co-...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld an award of benefits for a worker with noise-induced hearing loss.
Case: ACNR Resources Inc. v. Miller, No. 25-ICA-15, 08/06/2025, published.
Facts: Ronald Miller worked for the West Virginia Department of Highways from 1990 to 2010. He was exposed to occupational noise from heavy equipment and jackhammering during this time.
After Miller left this job, he underwent an audiogram by Katherine Cain, whose qualifications were not indicated on the audiogram form.
Miller worked for ACNR Resources Inc. from 2012 through 2015. D...
The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board issued a new en banc decision, making it easier for parties to have witnesses testify at trial via videoconferencing software.
The name of the en banc decision is Perez v. Chicago Dogs, and the board issued it on Aug. 12, with a brief revision to fix a clerical error two days later. In the decision, the WCAB determined that an oral, on-the-record request to present remote witness testimony at the start of a hearing may satisfy procedural requirements, particularly where the denial of testimony would impair a party’s constitutional r...
The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld a finding that a worker was entitled to temporary total disability benefits despite rejecting an accommodation job offer.
Case: The Job Center v. Griffiths, No. 2025-CA-0296-WC, 08/15/2025, unpublished.
Facts: Amy Griffiths worked for The Job Center, a temporary employment agency. The Job Center placed Griffiths with DHL as a mail sorter.
She earned $24 per hour, plus overtime pay and bonuses. Griffiths said she consistently worked more than 50 hours per week.
In December 2021, Griffiths lifted a heavy skid and felt a shock in her hand.&n...
NATL. - Fitch: With Wage, Medical Inflation, Comp Profits Could Dip
In a report issued Thursday, Fitch Ratings said it anticipates workers' compensation profits to dip due to “generally” declining rates in recent years, a reduction in reserve development and the “potential for rising claims costs from medical inflation.”
Calling it “the strongest-performing” major commercial product line for the U.S. property and casualty market for “an extended period,” Fitch cited its 10 consecutive years of underwriting profits and an average combined ratio of 90% from 2015 to 2024, with that percentage dipping to 89...
The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation said its board of directors approved a 1% rate cut for public employers.
The reduction is expected to reduce public employers' annual premiums by $1.8 million after it takes effect Jan. 1. It follows a 6% rate reduction for private employers that took effect July 1 and is projected to save $60 million.
According to a statement from the BWC, the rate reductions are the result of employers' commitment to workplace health and safety.
Officials also pointed out that Ohio had the third-highest premiums in the 2008 Oregon study and the fi...
A Florida appellate court upheld a judge's decision to disqualify a law firm from continuing to represent a firefighter’s widow due to a conflict of interest created by the hiring of a new attorney.
Eric Siena worked for Orange County Fire Rescue for 20 years. He was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in April 2020 and died in May 2021.
Siena’s widow filed a claim for death benefits, represented by the firm of Bichler & Longo PLLC.
Judge of Compensation Claims Neal P. Pitts denied the claim, and the widow appealed.
The 1st District Court of Appeal vacated the OJC...
A divided Florida appellate court upheld a determination that a worker was not entitled to indemnity benefits because neither he nor his employer had reported any income he received in his two weeks on the job.
Case: Roscoe v. S&A Hauling Hilliard LLC, No. 1D2022-0055, 08/20/2025, published.
Facts: Lamont Roscoe worked for S&A Hauling Hilliard LLC, driving a dump truck owned by S&A to haul material between a port and a dump. He was paid $70 per load and treated as an independent contractor.
After two weeks on the job, Roscoe suffered injuries when his truck tipped...
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the last in a series of injuries to a longtime meat cutter was permanently and totally disabling and that the Industrial Special Indemnity Fund was not liable for any benefits.
Case: Westman v. Industrial Special Indemnity Fund, No. 51719, 08/20/2025, published.
Facts: Douglas Westman is a third-generation meat cutter with more than 30 years of experience.
In 1999, Westman suffered an acute abdominal hernia, thoracic spine injuries and right shoulder injuries when a stack of frozen turkeys fell on him. Westman underwent multiple surgeri...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a finding that a worker sustained the occupational disease of asthma in the course of and resulting from employment in the mining industry.
Case: Blackhawk Mining LLC v. Woods, No. 25-ICA-63, 08/06/2025, published.
Facts: Harold Woods Jr. worked for Blackhawk Mining LLC. He filed a workers’ compensation claim in June 2022, alleging that he sustained an injury to his lungs due to exposure to coal dust, magnetite, welding fumes and flocculant at hazardous levels while working in Blackhawk’s prep plant.
Dr. Rob Keith s...
The California Assembly Appropriations Committee unanimously passed bills to bolster the ability of the Department of Industrial Relations to recover money from illegally uninsured employers and align death benefits for first responders with changes made by the Affordable Care Act.
The committee on Wednesday voted 15-0 to pass SB 447 and SB 847. Analyses of both measures project costs that would be "negligible" or "minor and absorbable."
SB 447, by Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, would extend how long minor dependents of deceased first responders can receive health benefits...
The New Jersey Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau announced that it is restoring computer systems that were taken offline earlier in August due to suspicious activity.
"We immediately took steps to investigate and determined that we were experiencing a cyber event," the bureau said. "Out of an abundance of caution, systems were taken offline, and we engaged external data privacy counsel and a third-party forensic investigation firm to conduct a thorough review."
NJCRIB said it has reset passwords, reviewed user accounts and access controls, updated security protect...
A California appeals court rejected a request to wait until the state Supreme Court clarifies the deadline for the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board to act on petitions for reconsideration, and said the 60-day window can be disregarded when the three elements of equitable tolling are satisfied.
As such, the 6th District Court of Appeals said the WCAB did not err when it granted Lance D. Miraco's petition for reconsideration more than 60 days after it was filed, substituting its findings for those of the workers' compensation judge and concluding that the claim was not time-...
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld an assessment of penalties against an employer for failing to pay a pharmacy service the full amount awarded by the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Review Section.
Case: Day-Timers Inc. v. Horton (WCAB), No. 538 C.D. 2024, 08/15/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Rhonda Horton worked for Day-Timers Inc. She injured her back at work in 1998 and began receiving monthly prescription medications from Alliance Medication Service LLC.
Between July 2022 and January 2023, Alliance submitted five applications for review to t...
