MI - Grievously Injured Worker Bound by Limitations Period Shortened by Contract He Signed as Teen
11/06/2024 | 0
A divided Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a tort claim saying the injured worker agreed to a shorter statute of limitations in a contract he signed as a teen.
While Martaz Coleman was in the hospital — and at times a medically induced coma — while the statute ran, the majority said his parents could have filed a lawsuit on his behalf after they were appointed guardian. Even if the limitations period started in January 2021 when the guardianship ended, the court said the lawsuit filed in August 2022 would still be time-barred.
Coleman was 17 when he started worki...
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West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the denial of a coal miner’s claim of injury from a fall.
Case: Saunders v. ACNR Resources Inc., No. 24-ICA-128, 10/28/2024, published.
Facts: Stephen Saunders worked as a coal miner for ACNR Resources Inc. He allegedly injured his back in a workplace fall July 19, 2022.
Saunders had previously suffered and received treatment for an injury to his lower back and his hip.
At a wellness exam on the same day as his alleged accident, Saunders reported that his hip pain was causing him difficulty walking.
A bilateral hip x-ray per...
A New York appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment for a worker’s Labor Law claim based on his fall while working in an elevator shaft.
Case: De Souza v. Hudson Yards Construction II LLC, No. 157354/19, 10/24/2024, published.
Facts: Jose Carlos De Souza suffered injuries while stripping concrete forms from a wall inside an elevator shaft when an unsecured plank on which he was standing shifted and caused him to fall.
Procedural history: De Souza filed suit against Hudson Yards Construction II LLC, asserting a claim for a violation of Labor Law Section 240(1).
Section...
A New York appellate court overturned a decision deducting the schedule loss of use for a worker’s prior shoulder injury from the schedule loss of use for a later arm injury.
Case: Matter of Germano v. Dynamic Appliances Inc., No. CV-23-0868, 10/24/2024, published.
Facts: Victor Germano worked for Dynamic Appliances Inc. He injured his right shoulder at work in 2015, and he was found to have sustained a 27.50% schedule loss of use of the right arm as a result of the injury.
In 2019, Germano injured his right arm at work. He underwent surgery to repair his right distal biceps tend...
Contact:
Diane Guevarra
diane@DGCattorneys.com
California Workers Compensation Defense Firm | Dietz Gilmor & Chazen
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Eric Hunter, a beloved member of Bradford and Barthel’s family and strong contributor to most of the California workers’ compensation defense firm’s technological advances, has passed away.
He was 47 years old.
Hunter was chief technology and innovation officer at the firm, where he was also known as a global futurist and head of the firm’s Innovation Futures Division. His advanced understanding of disruptive technology helped promote positive change in B&B over the years, and played a key role in many projects including:
The entire firm going “paperl...
NATL. - Judge: Company's Violation of Logout/Tagout Not 'Willful'
An administrative law judge with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission on Friday reduced by more than 80% a steel manufacturer’s fine over a worker’s death after it found that the Secretary of Labor failed to prove in part that violations the logout/tagout standards were “intentional.”
A worker was maintaining a machine at a Commercial Metals Co. facility in Sayreville, New Jersey, in 2022 when the machine unexpectedly energized, killing the worker. As documented in Secretary of Labor v. Commercial Metals Company, d/b/a CMC Steel New Jersey, and ...
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the state could receive up to $122 million from Kroger through a settlement that resolves allegations that the grocery chain failed to oversee the dispensing of opioids at its pharmacy.
The payment to California is part of a larger $1.4 billion settlement between Kroger and 33 other states plus the District of Columbia. Bonta said a state court judge still needs to enter the multistate settlement agreement.
Payments expected to begin next year include up to $1.2 billion for state and local governments, $36 million to Native American tribes and ...
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau will present the findings from its latest study on the variation of claim characteristics in different parts of California during a Dec. 4 webinar.
Since 2015, the WCIRB has conducted annual assessments on regional similarities and differences in claim frequency and severity, loss adjustment expenses and loss development.
Laura Carstensen, vice president of actuarial research will discuss findings from the 2025 WCIRB Geo Study along with Dilan Sahin, associate director of transaction data and Shane Steele, research actuary.
The webinar...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the closure of a worker’s claim, the denial of his requests for additional treatment and the denial of his request to expand the scope of his claim.
Younes Eloirzazi worked for AM Communications. He injured his neck in March 2017 in a work-related motor vehicle accident.
Eloirzazi sought medical treatment two days after the accident, and he reported neck pain radiating down the right shoulder. He was diagnosed with a neck sprain.
A claims administrator for AM’s insurance provider accepted liability for a neck sprain.
El...
A New York appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment for a worker’s Labor Law claim.
Case: Molina v. 114 Fifth Avenue Associates LLC, No. 156349/16, 10/15/2024, published.
Facts: Jose Molina suffered injuries after installing a run of fire suppression system piping when a rod and shield affixing one of the segments of the pipe to the ceiling broke free and the pipe fell onto his neck and shoulder.
Procedural history: Molina filed suit against 114 Fifth Avenue Associates LLC, asserting a claim for a violation of Labor Law Section 240(1).
Section 240(1) imposes a nondelegable ...
The Appellate Court of Maryland ruled that a jury’s award of temporary total disability benefits was inconsistent with its finding that a worker’s hip condition was not related to her prior work injury.
Case: In the Matter of Cousins, No. 1210, 10/16/2024, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: Dawn Cousins worked for the Montgomery County Board of Education.
She injured her back at work in October 2007. This injury allegedly caused Cousins to develop an antalgic gait, and she filed a workers’ compensation claim asserting she had a right hip condition which was causall...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker struck by a falling panel should have been granted summary judgment on his Labor Law claim.
Case: Macaulay v. New Line Structures & Development LLC, No. 154509/21, 10/24/2024, published.
Facts: Matthew Macaulay suffered injures while working on a construction project when he was struck on the head by a heavy metal panel.
The panel was being removed from a louver and was about four feet wide and eight feet tall. Macaulay estimated it weighed between 150 and 200 pounds.
Procedural history: Macaulay filed suit against New Line Stru...
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis pitched privatizing Pinnacol Assurance in his proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The governor’s proposal is the opening salvo in budget negotiations with lawmakers. Colorado is facing an estimated $1 billion deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Among other things, Polis is proposing modifying school financing formulas, freezing Medicaid reimbursement rates to address the shortfall.
He is also proposing that the state privatize the quasi-public Pinnacol Assurance in a move projected to generate $100 million for the General Fund in the comi...
The California Division of Workers’ Compensation updated a poster employers are required to display in the workplace to add language advising people of their right to consult an attorney following an injury.
Gov. Gavin Newsom in July signed AB 1870, by Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro, requiring an attorney consultation advisement be added to the workplace poster.
The bill requires the poster advise workers of the right to consult an attorney about their workers’ compensation rights. And it requires the poster inform workers that in most cases, attorney fees will be paid ...
Sedgwick on Monday announced that it named Andrea Buhl president of its casualty group.
Buhl has held numerous leadership roles at Sedgwick over the last 15 years, most recently leading the managed care line of business for four years, the company said.
“Her background as a board-certified nurse practitioner and in-depth experience building and leading managed care programs gives her a unique perspective that has been instrumental in improving the health care process for employers, providers and consumers,” Sedgwick said in a statement.
Buhl was honored by Business Insurance...
The U.S. Department of Labor reported an 11% reduction in workplace fatality investigations in the most recent fiscal year.
The 826 worker deaths investigated during the fiscal year that ended June 30 compares to 928 for the previous fiscal year and was the lowest number of worker fatalities, excluding those related to COVID-19, that the agency has investigated since 2017.
The department said preliminary data shows a decrease in fatalities the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is required to investigate, including trench collapses and falls.
OSHA investigated 189 fatal falls in ...
