NE - Court Revives Injured Worker's Claims for Premises Liability, Negligence
05/14/2025 | 0
The Nebraska Court of Appeals revived the claims of an injured worker and his employer’s insurance carrier against a property owner for premises liability and negligence.
In 2018, Patrick Reed was building a personal residence and was acting as the general contractor for the project. Reed was also the owner of and agent for PWR Ag Properties, which owned the property that was under construction.
Reed contracted with Hardwood Artisan LLC for the delivery and installation of cabinets for his residence. Paul Johansen worked for Hardwood.
After Johansen had delivered the cabinets to the s...
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West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals overturned the denial of a worker’s claim for a back injury.
Case: Kennedy v. Harman Branch Mining Inc., No. 24-ICA-366, 04/29/2025, published.
Facts: Fred Kennedy worked for Harman Branch Mining Inc. He allegedly injured his back at work on Sept. 25, 2023.
According to Kennedy, he developed severe low-back pain that caused him to fall to the ground, and he was unable to get up. Kennedy stated that he had experienced low-back pain before this, but these symptoms were more severe.
Kennedy went to Welch Community Hospital on...
A New York appellate court upheld the schedule loss of use award issued to an injured worker, finding the opinions of his treating physician were properly discounted and that the lower percentages assigned by the employer’s consultant were properly used as the basis for the award.
Case: Matter of Vujeva v. Dairy Conveyor Corp., No. CV-23-1672, 04/24/2025, published.
Facts: Jozo Vujeva injured his shoulders in March 2021 while working for Dairy Conveyor Corp. Vujeva established workers’ compensation claims for his injuries.
In March 2022, Vujeva’s attending orthopedic ...
The Missouri Court of Appeals reinstated a worker’s claims of discrimination and retaliation against her employer.
Case: Emile v. Triumph Foods LLC, No. WD87159, 05/06/2025, published.
Facts: Claudette Clement Emile began working for Triumph Foods LLC in 2014.
Emile is Haitian-American, and her native language is Creole. She speaks little English, but other Triumph employees sometimes served as an interpreter for her.
In June 2017, Triumph allegedly refused Emile a restroom break, which caused her to urinate on herself. She then allegedly developed bladder issues that requi...
With profound sadness, the Law Offices of David J. Shepard announces the death of David J. Shepard after a very short-term illness at the age of 74. He was the sole practitioner of a workers, compensation practice that was founded in 1986.
Shepard was admitted to the California State Bar in 1978 after getting his juris doctorate from the University of Sa...
For decades, I have encouraged parties to evaluate early and often with a view to closing cases to minimize the expenditure of time, money and stress. I was recently surprised by the published contrary view of a litigation management expert.
Litigation is not like wine
Litigation is not like wine; it doesn’t get better with age, goes the old saying. In most cases, the longer the dispute drags on, the more it costs to end it. I have seen many cases where a defendant had an opportunity to end a case early, and years later ended up paying multiples of that early value. Plain...
The National Council on Compensation Insurance said in its latest “State of the Line” report that private carriers notched an 11th consecutive year of underwriting profitability with a combined ratio of 86% in 2024.
It’s the eighth consecutive year that the combined ratio was below 90%, NCCI said.
The overall property and casualty net combined ratio dropped to 97% in 2024 from 102%.
Work comp lost-time frequency dropped 5% in 2024, a faster pace than the long-term average decline of 3.6% since 2004.
At the same time, NCCI reported that the net premium written by priva...
A Washington state roofing company faces more than $300,000 in fines after a worker fell from a two-story roof and was injured, the latest in a string of safety and labor violations levied against the employer.
The worker had to be hospitalized because his safety rope failed to stop him from hitting the ground. The State Department of Labor & Industries opened an inspection and used a subpoena to compel the employer, Asset Roofing Co., to divulge the address of the accident. When inspectors arrived, they discovered that the worksite had been al...
The California Department of Insurance is holding a public hearing on June 10 on a recommendation to increase the advisory pure premium rate for policies incepting on or after Sept. 1.
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau on April 30 submitted its annual rate filing recommending an 11.2% increase as a result of a rise in medical costs, allocated loss adjustment expenses and frequency of cumulative trauma claims. A modest decrease in the frequency of non-cumulative indemnity claims, combined with increasing wages, helped constrain the extent of the recommended increase....
The Louisiana Association of Self-Insured Employers is holding its annual conference Nov. 12-14 in Baton Rouge.
The conference will feature sessions exploring economic and workforce challenges in the workers’ compensation system, key principles of claims handling, risk appetite and cost implications, comprehensive patient care with a focus on factors influencing return to work, and proper management of soft tissue injuries.
Other sessions will include an update of medical fee schedule legislation, measures implemented to fight fraud, and reviews of the Medicare Secondary Payer law and ...
The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board is holding a series of educational sessions ahead of a coming mandate that providers submit CMS-1500 medical billing forms electronically.
The WCB last year announced that providers will be required to submit CMS-1500 forms electronically through a board-approved electronic submission partner starting Aug. 1.
In addition to covering the currently authorized submissions partners, the one-hour educational sessions will also provide an overview of the CMS-1500 form, the submission process and benefits of electronic filing.
The board is holdi...
The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine is hosting a webinar May 21 to discuss clinical recommendations for the use of cannabis to treat pain.
The webinar will explore what the medical literature shows about using cannabis for acute, chronic and postoperative pain, including the quality of the underlying research.
Guidelines ACOEM published in January say cannabis is not recommended for treating any type of pain and is not recommended for workers in safety-critical positions, such as those operating heavy machinery or who are at risk of falling from height.
The guide...
The Texas Supreme Court ruled that a nonsubscribing employer should have been granted an extension of time to file its postjudgment motions for relief from a jury’s $7.1 million verdict in favor of an injured worker.
Nicole Tarpley worked for Red Bluff LLC as a certified nursing assistant. Red Bluff was a nonsubscriber to the workers’ compensation system, so when she allegedly suffered an on-the-job injury, she filed a civil suit against her employer.
Based on a jury verdict in her favor, a trial court awarded her $7.1 million on claims for negligence and premises liability....
A New York appellate court upheld the denial of summary judgment on a worker’s Labor Law claim, not because of the homeowners' exemption applied by the trial justice, but because of a triable issue as to the type of work being performed.
Case: Lopez v. Classic Day Care Corp., No. 2023-09164, 04/23/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Esteban Mora Lopez allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project at premises owned by Jevgenija Lobica.
He filed suit against Lobica, asserting a claim for a violation of Labor Law Section 240(1).
Section 240(1) i...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a finding that a worker had no permanent disability from a knee sprain.
Case: Lawson v. Service Cleaners Inc., No. 24-ICA-363, 04/29/2025, published.
Facts: Vicki Lawson worked for Service Cleaners Inc. She filed a workers’ compensation claim for a knee injury after she slipped and fell at work in November 2021.
A claims administrator for SC’s insurance carrier accepted liability for a knee sprain.
Lawson saw a nurse practitioner in March 2022 and reported that she had pain and swelling in her left knee since she fell a...
The Appeals Court of Massachusetts upheld the denial of accidental disability retirement benefits for a municipal employee with irreparable shoulder injuries.
Case: Sibley v. Contributory Retirement Appeal Board, No. 24-P-741, 05/05/2025, unpublished.
Facts: Michael Sibley worked for the Northfield Highway Department, performing heavy labor. He began to experience pain in his right shoulder in 2001, but he did not report it to his supervisors.
In 2006, Sibley was diagnosed with a massive and irreparable tear of his right rotator cuff. By 2010, he had started receiving medical treatment for ...
Prosecutors dismissed workers’ compensation fraud charges filed against the manager of a Texas barbecue restaurant for insufficient evidence, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
Charges against Alison Clem, manager of La Barbecue, were dropped April 16, the newspaper reported. Charges filed against LeAnn Mueller, the restaurant owner, were dismissed in August 2023, according to the American-Statesman.
The Texas Department of Insurance in 2022 released a statement alleging that Clem and Mueller participated in a scheme to defraud a work comp carrier out of $350,000 by purchasing a b...