CA - DWC Proposes Attorney Fees for Depositions
01/28/2026 | 0
The Division of Workers' Compensation proposed a maximum hourly rate of $500 for attorneys to prepare injured workers for a deposition and to represent them during the proceeding in rules posted to its online forum for an informal comment period.
Attorneys would need to be certified by the State Bar as workers' compensation specialists to receive the maximum fee under draft rules the division promulgated Monday.
For attorneys without that certification, fees would be based on experience. The cap would be $450 for those with at least five years of experience, and $400 for attorne...
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An Arizona appellate court ruled that a municipal risk pool was a public entity and that it and its claims administrator were entitled to summary judgment dismissing an injured police officer’s bad faith claims against them.
Case: Wagner v. Arizona Municipal Risk Retention Pool, No. 1 CA-CV 24-0562, 01/07/2026, published.
Facts: Zaki Wagner worked for the City of Maricopa as a police officer. After being injured in the course and scope of his employment in 2018, Wagner filed a workers’ compensation claim with the Arizona Municipal Risk Retention Pool. The pool is an Arizona insur...
A New York appellate court ruled that a claim by an ironworker's foreman was properly dismissed because the work he was doing when injured was not covered by the Labor Law.
Case: Buckley v. The Hearst Corp., No. 160500/16, 01/06/2025, published.
Facts: Sean Buckley, an ironworker's foreman, was injured while he was assisting a consulting engineer who was inspecting exterior facade remediation work on a building owned by The Hearst Corp.
Buckley and the engineer used a motorized scaffold to examine the building.
As they reached the 18th floor, the scaffold's ...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his injuries from a misstep on an incomplete staircase.
Case: Telesford v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, No. 25178/16, 01/06/2026, published.
Facts: Kevon Telesford allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project.
According to Telesford, he was descending a staircase, and as he stepped onto a stair at its bottom, the Corex — a white material placed on all the stairs to protect the marble — collapsed, and his foot went into a hole 8...
An attorney in New Jersey recently asked me a question I have not been asked before, namely, whether some permanency evaluators ask too many questions of examinees.
This attorney commented that some of the experts seem to be engaging in discovery with all their questions. This got me thinking about what permanency evaluators are supposed to be focusing on during examinations. What kinds of questions are crucial to ask under New Jersey law during a permanency exam?
In my opinion, a lawyer cannot practice workers’ compensation law very well, and a doctor cannot perf...
The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld an award of 0% permanent partial disability for a worker’s occupational pneumoconiosis claim.
Case: Kyle v. Patriot Coal Corp., No. 25-605, 01/13/2026, published.
Facts: Terry Kyle worked for Patriot Coal Corp. He filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that he had stopped working in November 2015 due to health issues.
The physicians’ portion of the form was completed by nurse Erica Stanley and Dr. Richard Spencer. Stanley and Spencer opined that Kyle had occupational pneumoconiosis.
A claims administrator for Patriot’s ...
Kids’ Chance of California announced its board of directors for the 2026-2027 term and said the incoming leadership reflects its continued commitment to expanding educational opportunities and supporting the long-term success of the students it serves.
The incoming board members consist of a mix of professionals from inside and outside of the workers’ compensation community.
Lynda Stettler will serve as president, and Chad Beinschroth will serve as president-elect. Amy Hanson is immediate past president.
The remaining directors include:
Lisa Paroly, treasurer.
Michael Rydman...
The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission announced the reappointment of Robert A. Rapaport to serve an additional six-year term as a commissioner.
Rapaport was originally appointed to the Commission in 2017.
Throughout his tenure, he has served as president of the Virginia Workers’ Compensation American Inn of Court and was inducted as a fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in 2018. His leadership has also extended regionally through the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators, where he previously served as vice president an...
The California Division of Workers' Compensation is proposing to adopt updates to three sections of the Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule.
The division is proposing to adopt the Dec. 22 updates to the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine's "General Approaches — Initial Approaches to Treatment," "Eye Disorders Guideline" and "Chronic Pain Guidelines," the division said.
Rule changes proposed to update the treatment guides are exempt from formal rulemaking, but the division is required to have a 30-day public comment...
Sacramento, CA [December 10, 2025] Today, POWER proudly announced its official launch as a laser-focused non-profit organized to take direct action against fraud and criminal activity in California's temporary staffing industry.
"One of the biggest crimes taking place in California's workforce is hiding in plain sight. The temporary staffing industry has become a largely unregulated playground for cri...
A divided Oregon Supreme Court held that workers' compensation benefits do not provide a constitutionally sufficient substitute remedy for purposes of a law that immunizes the state and its employees from negligence claims.
The majority said two decisions interpreting the Oregon Tort Claims Act stand for the proposition that the constitutional remedy clause grants a substantive right to remedies recognized at common law and limits the ability of the Legislature to alter or adjust them.
The act allows lawsuits against Oregon public bodies for injuries caused by their employees' ...
The Washington Court of Appeals upheld the calculation of a worker’s wage rate based on his average hours of work per month over the six months preceding his injury.
Case: Carlson v. Tradesmen International LLC, No. 59469-2-II, 01/06/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Ian Carlson worked for Tradesmen International LLC, a temporary staffing company, for a short period of time in 2017. He left after finding a different job that provided a 40-hour work week.
Carlson returned to Tradesmen in 2018, allegedly because he was promised he would be provided 40 hours of work per week. He claimed th...
A New York appellate court upheld a decision by the Workers’ Compensation Board that denied a worker’s application for reconsideration and/or full board review.
Case: Matter of Pinson v. North Gate Health Care Facility, No. CV-24-1804, 12/31/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Patricia Pinson worked as a nurse for the North Gate Health Care Facility. She established a workers’ compensation claim for a back injury.
In December 2023, a workers’ compensation law judge found that Pinson had a permanent partial disability causing a 75% loss of wage-earning capa...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker’s unexpected death abated his claim for psychological injuries he allegedly developed as a result of an excavator accident.
Case: Matter of Brady v. Town of Warwick, No. CV-25-0385, 12/31/2025, published.
Facts: Scott T. Brady worked for the Town of Warwick. He suffered injuries at work in April 2023 when the excavator he was operating flipped onto its side.
Brady filed a workers’ compensation claim for his physical injuries, and he alleged that he developed additional psychiatric injuries as a result of the accident.
The town disp...
The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld the denial of benefits to a coal miner’s widow, finding that occupational pneumoconiosis was not a material contributing factor in his death.
Case: Adams v. Greyhead Mining Co. Inc., No. 25-573, 01/13/2026, published.
Facts: Kenneth Adams worked for 16 years as a coal miner, and his last employer was Greyhead Mining Co. Inc. He died in 2019. His death certificate listed his immediate cause of death as heart failure and noted interstitial lung disease as a condition that led to the cause of death.
The Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board release...
Texas Mutual Insurance Co. named Brittany Cullison as its senior vice president of talent and brand strategy, effective Jan. 12.
Cullison will be responsible for aligning Texas Mutual’s people, brand and purpose to strengthen the company’s position as an employer of choice and trusted partner to businesses throughout the state, the carrier said.
Cullison brings more than 15 years of experience in human resources and brand functions. She most recently served as chief people officer at Nutrabolt, a health and wellness company where she led global human relations, corporate comm...
Hawaii lawmakers introduced bills that would require an investigation of all active workers' compensation claims when a self-insured employer or carrier defaults on a benefit payment, establish a deadline for approving general treatment plans and define "compound drugs" for the purposes of ensuring access for injured workers.
HB 2042 would require a full audit of all ongoing claims when a carrier or self-insured employer fails to make a payment ordered in a final decision or judgment within 31 days of becoming due.
The bill includes a statement saying the Legislature find...
