TX - Court Clarifies Proper Allocation of 'Net Amount Recovered' From 3rd-Party Tortfeasor
05/26/2023 | 0
A Texas appellate court ruled that a trial judge erroneously allocated an injured worker’s third-party settlement and awarded additional attorney fees to the worker.
Janery Francois sustained a work-related injury in 2015. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. paid Francois $356,669.73 in medical and indemnity benefits under her employer's workers' compensation policy.
Francois later sued the owner and operator of the building where she sustained her injury and settled that claim for $150,000. Hartford intervened in the lawsuit and asserted its subrogation righ...
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The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that an injured worker is entitled to a reasonable award incurred in determining the proper fee for prevailing against the denial of her claim.
Case: In the Matter of Compensation of Peabody, Nos. 1602309 and A176055, 05/24/2023, published.
Facts and procedural history: Karista D. Peabody worked for Oregon Health & Science University. She filed an occupational disease claim for a right cubital tunnel syndrome condition.
OHSU had workers’ compensation coverage with SAIF Corp., which denied Peabody’s claim.
Peabody challenged that denial at a...
A Florida appellate court ruled that the state Commission on Human Relations erred in awarding back pay to an injured worker who agreed to resign from his job as part of the settlement of his workers’ compensation claim.
Case: Monro v. Parsons, No. 1D21-3866, 05/24/2023, published.
Facts: Jeff B. Parsons owned and operated a tire shop in Pensacola, which he sold to Monro in 2016. The terms of the sales agreement prohibited Parsons from "operating a tire and/or automotive repair and service facility" within 200 miles of Monro's store for four years.
After completing...
The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that an administrative law judge used the wrong standard to deny an injured worker the ability to select a doctor of her own choosing based on her employer’s failure to post a panel of physicians in a “conspicuous” place.
Case: Lilienthal v. JLK Inc., No. A23A0290, 05/24/2023, published.
Facts: Linda Lilienthal began working as a preschool teacher for JLK Inc. in 2016.
JLK had workers’ compensation coverage with Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America. It had provided the panel of physicians to be posted at the school. During their n...
ReEmployAbility and Work Comp Central Announce Free Webinar: "Overcoming Jurisdictional Return-to-Work Challenges"
Brandon, FL (May 10, 2023)- ReEmployAbility CEO and Founder Debra Livingston will be hosting a second free, live Work Comp Central webinar in their continued series to educate the worker's ...
Health care quality is a huge issue in the United States. Despite claims that we have the best health care in the world, the reality is far different.
Why? I’d argue it's because health care consumer behavior drives our for-profit system.
What makes patients happy is completely unrelated to the actual quality of medical care they receive or how likely they are to die.
A research article is here.
Patient satisfaction doesn’t vary by hospital mortality and varies just a little by medical quality, but varies a LOT by nurse communication.
The effec...
The California Senate passed a bill that would require the Division of Workers’ Compensation to study differences in benefits provided to injured workers based on gender.
The Senate on Wednesday voted 31-8 to pass SB 631, by Sen. Dave Cortese, D-Campbell.
The bill would direct the DWC to partner with the University of California, Berkeley, to prepare a comparative analysis examining differences in workers’ compensation benefits provided to employees of different genders.
The analysis would have to include a comparison of genders in different industries and an assessment of t...
Heat exposure is responsible for as many as 2,000 worker deaths and 170,000 injuries each year, according to a report by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
The report is part of an effort to prod the Occupational Safety and Health Administration into implementing national standards to protect workers from heat exposure. In February, attorneys general for six states petitioned OSHA to take swift action in adopting standards it proposed in October 2022.
So far, only state plans in California, Oregon and Minnesota have adopted heat standards.
Public Citizen on Thursday said the dange...
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara approved the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s annual regulatory filing.
Among other things, the threshold for experience rating will increase to $10,200 from $9,200 for policies incepting on or after Sept. 1.
Eligibility for experience rating is based on payroll and the expected loss rate for an employer's classification code. The sum must equal or exceed the minimum eligibility threshold.
The commissioner’s decision pertains only to the WCIRB’s regulatory filing and does not address the WCIRB&rsqu...
The New York State Inspector General’s Office is requesting an analysis to determine the causes of what it calls a staffing crisis caused by workers' compensation claims from correctional workers.
Correctional officers in New York are afforded special benefits not available to most other workers covered by the workers’ compensation laws. Security services unit employees are entitled to up to six months of full pay for a workplace injury or illness before they have to choose whether to use accrued leave time or seek temporary disability benefits at two-thirds of their wage.
Th...
The U.S. Department of Labor yet again announced a seven-figure penalty for Dollar General, saying inspectors found obstructed exits and electrical hazards during visits to stores in Maine, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The latest round of violations resulted in $3.4 million in proposed penalties, bringing to $21 million the total amount of penalties the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has assessed against the retailer since 2017.
“OSHA inspections at Dollar General stores commonly find aisles, emergency exits, fire extinguishers and electrical panels blocked by ...
By Steve Nichols, News Contributor
Texas lawmakers sent Gov. Greg Abbott a bill that could change the number of injured employees who would be eligible to receive lifetime income benefits.
House Bill 2468, which had unanimous support in both chambers of the Legislature, was sent to the governor Monday.
The bill would amend Labor Code Section 408.161, which currently gives severely injured first responders access to lifetime income benefits — 75% of their salary — if they suffer specific catastrophic injuries while on duty.
The statute currently covers conditions such as ins...
A majority of the en banc Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that a trial court has jurisdiction over a dispute between a group of workers’ compensation insurance carriers and a billing agency that purchased prescription claims of injured workers.
Case: Elite Care RX LLC v. Premier Comp Solutions LLC, No. 1144 WDA 2020, 05/23/2023, published.
Facts and procedural history: Elite Care RX LLC filed suit against Premier Comp Solutions LLC, Laundry Owners' Mutual Liability Insurance Association, Lackawanna Casualty Co. and Brick Street Mutual Insurance Co.
Eli...
The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled that a workers’ compensation judge erred in combining a worker’s schedule injuries with non-schedule injuries into one permanent partial disability calculation.
Case: Case v. Hanna Plumbing & Heating Co. Inc., No. A-1-CA-38439, 05/22/2023, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: Ricky Case worked for Hanna Plumbing and Heating Co. He suffered serious injuries to his feet and ankles in March 2010.
Case later developed low back, left hip and right knee pain and depression issues, all attributable to the accident.
A worke...
The Washington Court of Appeals upheld a finding that an injured worker could not be bound by the terms of an agreement she had signed to waive her right to benefits under the Industrial Insurance Act.
Case: Subcontracting Concepts CT Inc. v. Manzi, No. 83748-6-I, 05/22/2023, published.
Facts: While Fernanda Manzi was looking for work, an acquaintance informed her of a potentially available delivery route with OnTrac. Manzi spoke with an OnTrac driver who gave her contact information to Khalid Nazir.
Manzi met with Nazir without realizing that he did not work ...
The Missouri Court of Appeals overturned a denial of unemployment benefits for an injured worker and chastised the Division of Employment Security for unnecessarily complicating the administrative proceedings on his claim.
Case: Johnes v. Division of Employment Security, No. WD85570, 05/23/2023, published.
Facts and procedural history: Timothy W. Johnes worked for Genesis Environmental Solutions Inc. On Dec. 26, 2020, Johnes suffered injuries to his face and shoulder while at work. The next day, he was laid off.
Genesis did not contest Johnes’ claim for unemployment benefits, and a re...
RI - Bill Would Amend Comp Reimbursement in Third-Party Claims
Rhode Island lawmakers have introduced legislation that would amend reimbursement requirements in workers’ compensation claims where injured workers recover damages in third-party tort actions.
Senate Bill 1045, filed Friday, states that any money that injured employees are awarded through third-party judgments or settlements that include damages for past or future pain and suffering, loss of consortium, loss of society and loss of wages and earning capacity do not need to be reimbursed to comp insurers.
The measure also proposes to reduce any reimbursement amount by the percentag...
