LA - Court Upholds Jury Verdict on Injured Worker's Premises Liability Claims
01/17/2025 | 0
A Louisiana appellate court upheld a jury verdict in favor of an injured janitorial worker for her injuries from a fall on a school premises.
Covenant Christian Academy is a private school operated on a property owned by First Baptist Church of Houma and leased to the school.
The lease agreement states that the church will provide "all major maintenance on the buildings and property," and the school will provide “routine” maintenance.
The school contracted with Enmon Enterprises LLC to provide commercial cleaning services for the school premises. The contract said...
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The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that an employer’s refusal to negotiate the amount of its subrogation lien does not constitute deliberate bad faith conduct that could result in the modification, reduction or waiver of its lien.
Case: Mondragon v. Jo Jo Pizza, No. 174 C.D. 2024, 01/06/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Martha Mondragon worked for Jo Jo Pizza. She slipped and fell in the parking lot of her workplace in February 2016.
Mondragon filed a workers’ compensation claim, which she later settled for $70,000. This amount included a 20% fee paya...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his injuries from a fall from a roof.
Case: Verhoef v. Dean, No. 820 CA 24-00162, 12/20/2024, published.
Facts: Peter F. Verhoef fell from the roof of a concession stand while working at a commercial property owned by Paul Dean.
Verhoef and a co-worker were replacing rubber flashing around plumbing ventilation pipes on the roof of the concession stand. He had not been provided with any safety devices to complete the work.
Procedural history: Verhoef and his wife filed s...
The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld an increase in a coal miner’s permanent partial disability award for his injuries from an electric shock.
Case: Murray American Energy Inc. v. Fitzwater, No. 24-199, 01/14/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Carey Fitzwater worked for Murray American Energy as a coal miner. He suffered an electric shock while at work in August 2015.
A claims administrator for Murray’s comp carrier initially accepted liability for injuries to Fitzwater’s face and neck. The administrator later added post-traumatic seizures and hemip...
On Thursday, we revealed the highest-rated hospitals for workers’ comp. Today, Health Strategy Associates is DIS-pleased to reveal the 10 lowest-scoring hospitals in the U.S. for workers’ compensation.
Using HSA’s proprietary Workers’ Comp Facility Assessment Tool, our analysts ranked all the hospitals in the country based on their scores for clinical outcomes, patient engagement, safety, efficiency and relative price. We aggregated facilities’ scores across these categories to determine which “earned” this designation.
For a detailed d...
Regional workers' compensation insurance provider MEM announced that it completed a loss portfolio transfer to St. Louis-based Safety National as it moves forward as a private mutual carrier.
"The transaction reinsures a $350 million portfolio of workers’ compensation liabilities and covers accident years 2023 and prior," the carrier said in a statement. "The transfer is part of MEM’s transition from a state workers’ compensation insurance fund to a private mutual insurance company."
While the liability is transferred, MEM's staff will continue t...
The Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation is holding its 2025 educational conference June 11-13 in Murfreesboro.
In addition to announcing dates for the annual conference, the BWC also opened a call for educational presenters during the program.
The bureau said it is looking for presentations on improving outcomes for injured workers, improving collaboration among system users and improving the overall quality and efficiency of the Tennessee workers' compensation system.
Topics could include technology and innovation in work comp, litigation and dispute resolution, risk man...
The Workers Compensation Research Institute on Thursday released a new study offering an in-depth look at the lifecycle of a work comp claim in New York.
The report analyzes workers’ compensation claims from 2018 evaluated in 2023 to provide an examination of overall claim costs, timing of key indemnity payments and other essential system performance indicators.
WCRI said the study identifies when key payments are made, such as the first payment of indemnity benefits or the first lump-sum payment. The study also addresses the average total cost per claim, including an analysis of c...
The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation is accepting proposals from speakers for its 2025 conference being held Sept. 29-30 in San Marcos.
The divisions said the theme of the 2025 Texas Workers' Compensation Conference will be “Decoding Workers' Comp,” and the program will explore some of the more complex aspects of the system, as well as trends and issues to watch.
The agency said it is looking for presentations on topics that include best practices for using data analytics in claims management; work comp trends; issues that prevent injured employees from success...
Members of a panel created to advise California work comp regulators about updates to the state's prescription drug formulary on Wednesday appeared to have more questions than answers about cannabis to treat occupational injuries.
While California is not among the handful of states that already require employers to reimburse injured workers who are using cannabis as part of treatment, that could change if the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration proceeds with rulemaking to treat cannabis as a medicine and if drugmakers start churning out products that are approved by the Food and Dru...
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld a finding that a former firefighter was entitled to benefits for cancer.
Case: West Conshohocken Borough v. Markland (WCAB), No. 1382 C.D. 2022, 01/01/2025, published.
Facts: David Markland worked for West Conshohocken Borough as a firefighter. He filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that he had developed colon and kidney cancer as a result of his exposure to carcinogens during his 40-year career fighting fires.
Markland listed his last day of exposure as Sept. 1, 2018, and his date of injury as Aug. 23, 2019. He asserted that he...
A divided Louisiana appellate court ruled that a worker forfeited her entitlement to benefits for alleged injuries from two falls due to her material misrepresentations regarding the events, prior injuries and prior medical treatment.
Case: Zatarains v. Rodney, No. 24-CA-128, 12/27/2024, published.
Facts: Danelle Rodney worked for Zatarains. She allegedly slipped and fell at work twice on the same day in June 2019. She reported soreness in her shoulder, knee and ankle to her manager. The manager offered to take her to receive medical treatment, but Rodney declined.
Rodney later sought ...
A New York appellate court partially revived a worker’s claims for alleged injuries from a mishap while attempting to fill a water truck.
Case: Brongo v. Town of Greece, No. 671 CA 23-01616, 12/20/2024, published.
Facts: The Town of Greece contracted with Steven Brongo’s employer to perform milling and asphalt work on a road owned by the town.
Brongo operated a water truck used to cool the mill's blades and used a fire hydrant at the town's Department of Public Works to fill the tank.
The hose attached to the hydrant was torn, frayed and lacked a coupler to connect the ...
The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld an award of permanent partial disability benefits for a worker who was knocked unconscious in a fall, finding that some of his disability was properly apportioned to preexisting conditions.
Case: Workman v. Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority, No. 24-231, 01/14/2025, published.
Facts: Robert Workman worked for the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority. He slipped and fell while at work in June 2021. The fall knocked him unconscious.
A claims administrator for the employer insurance carrier accepted liability for a concussion, scalp abrasion a...
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday announced that it is abandoning efforts to draft rules to protect health care workers from COVID-19.
"OSHA is now terminating the rulemaking via this rule because the public health emergency is over and any ongoing risk by COVID-19 or other coronavirus hazards faced by health care workers would be better addressed at this time in a rulemaking addressing infectious diseases more broadly," the agency said.
OSHA proposed the COVID-19 emergency temporary standards for health care workers in June 2021 but has not e...
The California Department of Industrial Relations issued a new request for proposals to modernize its Electronic Adjudication Management System.
EAMS primarily supports the Division of Workers' Compensation by managing court case processes while also being used for claims benefit administration and qualified medical examiner functionality.
"Through user feedback, ongoing cost analysis, consultative review and maintenance and operations analysis, DWC's business and technical teams have determined that EAMS is nearing the end of its usefulness as a functional tool for th...