CA - Court: Comp Covers Fatal Accidents for School Volunteers
03/14/2025 | 0
A California appeals court said workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy for the family and estate of a school district volunteer who was killed in a fatal accident during a food drive.
The 1st District Court of Appeal, in a published decision handed down Wednesday, said the school district in 2012 adopted a resolution under Labor Code Section 3364.5 and declared its intent to treat volunteers as employees covered by work comp. The court also said death clearly falls under the definition of "injury."
Catherine Kuo, 48, died from injuries she sustained when she was hit...
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A New York appellate court partially revived a worker’s Labor Law action for his injuries from a cart mishap.
Case: Ramos v Kent & Wythe Owners LLC, No. 2020-05704, 03/05/2025, published.
Facts: Vidal Ramos worked for R&M Repairs and Maintenance Inc., a subcontractor hired by the L&M Builders Group LLC to perform cleaning services at a building under construction.
Ramos was using an A-frame cart to move drywall across an unfinished concrete floor at the construction site when the cart overturned, trapping his legs.
Procedural history: Ramos filed suit against L...
A federal appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of an injured worker’s claims of discrimination and retaliation.
Case: Brown v. Conagra Brands Inc., No. 22-3324, 03/12/2025, published.
Facts: Judy Brown, a biracial woman, began working for Conagra Brands Inc. in 1997. She became disabled in 2015 after suffering a workplace injury and filed a workers’ compensation claim in 2017.
As an accommodation, Conagra temporarily transferred Brown from her position as a forklift operator to packaging machine operator. The company also transferred one of its packaging machine operator...
An Ohio appellate court ruled that a retired railway worker stated a viable claim under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act for his cumulative trauma injuries, so a grant of summary judgment dismissing his entire action had not been appropriate.
Case: Wilson v. CSX Transportation Inc., No. C-240284, 03/12/2025, published.
Facts: Edward Wilson worked for CSX Transportation Inc. and its predecessor from 1978 to 2014. The positions he held over the years all involved intensive manual labor, including repeated lifting, squatting and carrying heavy objects. Wilson claimed that th...
A big interest of mine is art theft and art forgery. Experts estimate that 20%-50% of the art in the world’s major art museums and on the commercial art market is fake. How could this be?
The value of evidence
Three types of evidence support or debunk the authenticity of art:
Forensics — scientific testing that can prove the age of an object or if a work was created using materials that did not exist at the time the work was supposedly created.
Provenance — the provable history of ownership of an object.
Connoisseurship — expert analysis of the...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld an award of benefits for a worker’s back injury.
Case: BET Ltd. v. May, No. 24-ICA-296, 02/28/2025, published.
Facts: James May worked for BET Ltd. He filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that he injured his back at work in September 2020.
Before this alleged incident, May received treatment for low-back pain. He had preexisting diagnoses of sacroiliitis, lumbosacral spondylosis, lumbar radiculopathy and chronic pain syndrome.
After the alleged injury, May reported low-back pain that radiated down his lef...
MA - Bill Would Require Comp Carriers to Pay for Cannabis
Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill that would amend state law to require workers' compensation insurers to cover medical marijuana.
House Bill 2169, by Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, now with the House and Senate Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development after being introduced on Feb. 27, states that reasonable and necessary service costs "may include reimbursement for medical cannabis provided to injured employees who are qualifying patients, or their personal caregiver, certified by a health care professional.”
The bill would delete language in st...
The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld a finding that a police officer timely filed his claim for post-traumatic stress disorder almost a decade after the event that triggered his condition.
Tyken Solie began working for the City of Phoenix as a patrol officer in 2001. In 2011, Solie responded to a home invasion call that resulted in a shootout and a fatality.
After this incident, Solie began experiencing anxiety, sadness and had difficulty sleeping.
In February 2020, Solie met with Shawna Peters, a licensed professional counselor. She diagnosed Solie with "unspecified trauma" a...
A New York appellate court ruled that a Labor Law defendant should have been granted partial summary judgment dismissing a worker’s claims.
Case: Cruz v. PMG Construction Group LLC, No. 158528/18, 03/04/2025, published.
Facts: Bryan Cruz suffered injuries while working on a construction project when a large window, weighing more than 200 pounds, tipped over and struck his legs.
Before the accident, the window was leaning against a stack of other windows, all similar in size and all of which were propped up against the wall.
Cruz had just removed a suction c...
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld a determination that a police officer’s receipt of his full salary for a period after contracting COVID-19 was not an acknowledgment of compensability for his condition.
Case: Zeller v. City of Philadelphia (WCAB), No. 463 C.D. 2024, 03/11/2025, unpublished.
Facts: William Zeller was a police officer for the City of Philadelphia. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March 2021 and has not returned to work since.
The city designated Zeller’s first 10 months out of work as “excused” or “e-time,” and he re...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld an award of benefits to a worker’s widow for a fatal fungal infection in his brain.
Case: Blackhawk Mining LLC v. Banks, No. 24-ICA-357, 02/28/2025, published.
Facts: Timothy Banks Jr. worked for Blackhawk Mining LLC as a surface mine blaster.
Starting in May 2022, Banks suffered a progressive decline in memory, brain frog and seizure activity. Imaging studies revealed a left parietal brain mass, and Banks underwent a craniotomy for resection of the mass on June 3, 2022.
Following a biopsy of the mass, Banks was diagnose...
The Ohio Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that CSX Transportation Inc. may be liable for the cumulative trauma injuries a longtime railroad worker suffered as a result of the company making his job harder by failing to provide him with adequate equipment and assistance.
As documented in Wilson v. CSX Transp. Inc., Edward M. Wilson repaired tracks for CSX for decades. After undergoing surgery and treatment for degenerative knee and spinal injuries and taking disability retirement, Wilson sought relief under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, which permits railroad emplo...
Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering legislation that would provide legal protections and remedies for employees who can prove that they have been exposed to an abusive work environment.
HB 863, filed Tuesday, defines “abusive conduct” as “an act or omission intended to inflict and resulting in physical injury or psychological injury,” which is not injury compensable under workers' compensation “if the injury necessitates treatment by a qualified, licensed medical, mental health or rehabilitative professional.”
The bill also states that suc...
Southern California applicants' attorney Elliot Berkowitz died Sunday at the age of 76.
He is survived by his two daughters, Dayna and Allison.
Berkowitz, who was a partner at Berkowitz & Cohen in Los Angeles, had practiced personal injury and workers' compensation law since 1977, one year after he earned his law degree from Glendale University College of Law.
He was actively involved with the California Consumer Attorneys Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the California Applicants' Attorneys Association.
He held positions ranging from treasu...
The Oregon Workers' Compensation Division adopted rules to update fee schedules and modify requirements for managed care organizations.
Rules that take effect April 1 increase the maximum allowable payment for certain medical services and interpreter services.
The division said in rulemaking materials that increases in maximum payments for physical therapy and rehabilitation services will increase overall system costs by about $6.3 million per year. Other increases will raise total costs for radiology by $516,062 per year; durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies by...
An injured worker is asking a trial court to prohibit the Ohio Industrial Commission from holding hearings, issuing orders or otherwise discharging its duties because commissioners allegedly do not meet certain statutory requirements.
Suzane Duke, in a lawsuit filed Monday and posted by Bloomberglaw.com, said none of the three commissioners have the requisite experience to serve on the commission. Specifically, she claims that none of the commissioners have the six years of work comp experience that is required by law.
Duke injured her back while working for Frito Lay in July 2024. Her claim...
