NH - Supreme Court Upholds Denial of Benefits for Worker's Estate
04/13/2026 | 0
The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a denial of benefits to the estate of a worker who suffered a pulmonary embolism, fell into water face down and died.
Matthew Kelley worked as a carpenter for the Evroks Corp. In April 2023, he was working on a bridge over a river when he suffered a pulmonary embolism. He fell about 8 feet onto the embankment below and then rolled into shallow water, face down.
Paramedics were called, but Kelley remained unresponsive. At the hospital, he went into cardiac arrest and died.
A medical examiner performed an autopsy the following day. He determined tha...
Read More
A New York appellate court upheld the denial of a custodial worker’s claim of psychological injuries from stress due to his alleged exposure to unsanitary conditions at a migrant processing center.
Case: Matter of Wallace v. New York City School Support Services Inc., No. CV-24-1822, 03/19/2026, published.
Facts: Nicholas Wallace worked for New York City School Support Services Inc. as a custodial worker. He filed a workers’ compensation claim in October 2023, asserting he had suffered work-related psychological injuries stemming from cleaning and working in unsanitary cond...
A New York appellate court upheld the denial of a worker’s request to expand his claim to add hip injuries and to hold the State Insurance Fund liable for the cost of hip replacement surgery.
Case: Matter of Fleming v. DOCCS Attica Correctional Facility, No. CV-24-1667, 03/19/2026, published.
Facts: Donald Fleming worked for the DOCCS Attica Correctional Facility. He established a workers' compensation claim for injuries to his right foot and ankle stemming from a 2015 accident.
Fleming underwent surgeries related to his injuries in 2015 and 2019. In 2016 and 2017, he underwent un...
A Texas court overturned the dismissal of a worker’s appeal of his denied claim, finding he should have been allowed to amend his pleadings to establish the trial court’s jurisdiction.
Case: Pineda Orellana v. National Specialty Insurance Co., No. 01-24-00383-CV, 04/09/2026, published.
Facts: Esdras Pineda Orellana owned ENPO Home Improvement, a construction and remodeling company that subscribed to workers’ compensation insurance.
On Dec. 13, 2021, Pineda allegedly fell while carrying drywall down a flight of stairs. After seeking medical care, he returned to work with re...
“If I have to follow up with just two of these people per claim, it’s incredibly time-consuming and not feasible.”
That’s a senior adjuster describing a litigated claim with six parties: injured worker, applicant attorney, defense attorney, adjuster, employer and a fronting employer above them. Not a catastrophic claim. Not an outlier. A normal file.
This is what early-stage claim-handling looks like for a significant portion of the workers’ compensation workforce — and it is the starting point for a pattern that keeps surfacing across geographies...
The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation announced that a woman was ordered to pay more than $55,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to fraud charges for working while collecting benefits.
The BWC said an investigation determined that Deborah Belcher returned to her job as a retail associate and cashier at several businesses in Chillicothe, Circleville and Portsmouth at the same time as she was receiving disability benefits.
Belcher pleaded guilty to a felony count of workers' compensation fraud in March.
She was given a 12-month suspended sentence, placed on unsupervised proba...
WA - Battery Maker Fined $224,320, Shut Down After Lead Exposure Violations
A Washington state battery manufacturer is facing $224,320 in penalties after regulators said it failed to correct dangerous workplace conditions that exposed employees to toxic lead.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries cited Dyno Battery for 16 safety violations after a follow-up inspection, the agency said Thursday.
Inspectors found that the company had not remedied more than a dozen violations identified in July, despite repeated warnings and deadline extensions. Among the most serious findings was the accumulation of lead dust inside air filtration systems designed ...
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear removed the Department of Workers' Claims from the Education and Labor Cabinet and administratively attached the agency to the governor's office.
Beshear allowed SB 343 to become law without his signature on Thursday. The bill included an emergency declaration and took effect immediately.
A commissioner appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate will continue to lead the department under the bill. However, the commissioner will no longer work directly under the supervision of the governor's education and labor secretary.
The commissioner mus...
After a federal workplace heat safety program expired last week, regulators on Friday unveiled an updated enforcement initiative aimed at continuing inspections in high-risk industries, according to agency documents.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s National Emphasis Program on heat hazards launched in 2022 and expired Wednesday, raising concerns among worker advocates about enforcement gaps heading into the summer. Its expiration left the agency relying on its general duty clause to cite employers in the absence of a formal standard, which has been in the works ...
In an unpublished decision, a California appeals court annulled a Workers' Compensation Appeals Board finding of violation as unsupported by evidence.
WCAB decisions must be supported by substantial evidence in light of the entire record, the 4th District Court of Appeal explained. The determination that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power did not carry its burden of establishing that it fired Jeanette France for poor job performance "is unreasonable because the WCAB ignored relevant evidence and mischaracterized the record," the court said.
France wo...
A California appellate court upheld the attachment of a litigant’s bank account to enforce a judgment against him, finding he failed to prove that the account held the proceeds of a workers’ compensation claim that would be exempt from a levy.
Case: Elizabeth’s Food Co. Inc. v. Castro, No. B345269, 04/08/2026, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: Elizabeth’s Food Co. Inc. filed suit against Alejandro Castro in November 2021.
A trial judge entered a default against Castro in November 2022, and in July 2023, the judge entered a default judgment against him. ...
A Florida appellate court ruled that workers’ compensation exclusivity did not shield an apartment complex management company from civil liability for injuries sustained by a pool maintenance contractor’s employee.
Case: Teed v. Everest Campus East LLC, No. 2D2025-0213, 04/08/2026, published.
Facts: Jackie Teed worked for Bay Guard Pool Services. Tampa SH1 Owner LLC contracted with Bay to maintain a swimming pool at the apartment complex it owned.
Teed suffered injuries while working at the pool. Afterward, he obtained benefits under Bay's workers' compens...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker should have been granted summary judgment on her Labor Law claim for a fall from a ladder.
Case: Serrano v. Athena Properties LLC, No. 814752/23, 03/19/2026, published.
Facts: Amber Serrano fell from a ladder while installing ductwork at a property owned by Athena Properties LLC.
Video footage of the accident showed that the ladder shifted and moved while Serrano was descending it, and that no other safety devices were made available to her.
Procedural history: Serrano filed suit against Athena, asserting claims for negligence and violati...
A New York appellate court upheld a determination that an injured worker was a business's employee and that the company should have had workers’ compensation coverage for him, but the court said a penalty calculation was improper.
Case: Matter of Cortez v. Royal Stone Cabinet & Tile Inc., No. CV-24-1556, 03/19/2026, published.
Facts: Arturo Martinez Cortez filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that he suffered injuries on Christmas 2021 when he slipped and fell while carrying a large stone as he worked for Royal Stone Cabinet & T...
An Oklahoma judge on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order preventing CompSource Mutual Insurance Co. from mailing a reorganization notice to policyholders, according to a report by independent media outlet nondoc.com.
Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready in March approved a plan to transition CompSource into a mutual holding company structure, but it still requires support from two-thirds of the carrier's policyholders.
The workers' compensation carrier would become a stock insurer called CompSource Mutual Insurance Co. S.I. Its policyholders would become members of a newly ...
A California Senate committee passed a bill that would require staffing agencies to provide proof of workers' compensation coverage and register with the labor commissioner.
The Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement voted 3-1 to pass SB 1032, which would require staffing agencies to register before conducting any business in California, and annually thereafter.
Firms would be required to pay registration fees to be determined by the labor commissioner under a recent amendment to the bill. An earlier version would have imposed a flat $5,000 annual registration charge...
