ID - Supreme Court Upholds Denial of Claim for Worker's Death from COVID-19 Complications
11/18/2025 | 0
The Idaho Supreme Court upheld the denial of a widow’s workers’ compensation claim for her husband’s death from complications related to COVID-19.
William Weeks worked for Oneida County’s Road and Bridge Department.
In September 2021, the county had high transmission rates for COVID-19 and recommended some of its employees take precautions including social distancing and not holding in-person meetings. However, critical workers including those in the Road and Bridge Department had to work their normal schedules.
The department continued to hold morning meetings in an...
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A Texas appellate court ruled that a jail employee’s civil claims arising from a sexual assault by an inmate should have been dismissed.
Case: Harris County v. Doe, No. 01-24-00096-CV, 11/13/2025, published.
Facts: A female Harris County Jail employee, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, alleged that she was sexually assaulted by an inmate while at work in December 2021.
Doe claims she screamed and cried for help, but no one came due to understaffing at the jail.
Procedural history: Doe filed suit against the inmate, the county, and various individual county officials in their...
A Texas appellate court dismissed a worker’s challenge to the denial of her claim due to a lack of jurisdiction.
Case: Lee v. Grand Prairie Independent School District, No. 03-25-00243-CV, 11/13/2025, published.
Facts: Phyllis Lee was injured in Septemner 2017 working for the self-insured Grand Prairie Independent School District.
Procedural history: An administrative law judge found that Lee was barred from pursuing her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and a right rotator cuff tear as compensable injuries. The ALJ also found that Lee was barred from pursuing disability fro...
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled that only an injured worker may make and file with the Industrial Commission an application requesting a hearing when the underlying claim relates to unpaid or discontinued compensation or income benefits.
Case: Coronado v. City of Boise, No. 51722, 11/14/2025, published.
Facts: Sherri Coronado worked as a police officer for the City of Boise. On May 29, 2019, she suffered an injury to her right hip after she was dragged by and thrown from a motor vehicle while attempting to prevent a suspect from driving away.
The city’s claims administrator accepted Cor...
San Diego, California - 11/14/2025 - Dietz, Gilmor & Chazen, APC, a California statewide law firm practicing exclusively in workers' compensation defense, subrogation, asbestos, Labor Code §132a, and serious and willful misconduct claims, promotes Peter M. Golden, Esq. to Partner.
Mr. Golden is a Partner based out of the San Diego office of Die...
As of Oct. 30, 2025, Pennsylvania first responders may file a workers’ compensation claim for post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSIs) that result from certain qualifying events.
Crucially, Act No. 121, Workers’ Compensation Act-Compensation for Post-Traumatic Stress Injury, eliminates the requirement that the trauma be due to an “abnormal working condition.” Trauma from several types of events common to first responders' work now qualify as compensable.
This legislation makes it drastically easier for firs...
Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky on Monday announced the approval of a 6.9% rate decrease for policies incepting on or after Jan. 1.
The National Council on Compensation Insurance in September recommended the rate reduction based on improved loss experience in policy years 2022-2024 and continued decreases in claim frequency.
NCCI said at the time that claim frequency decreased at a faster pace in 2024 than the long-term average rate of decline.
Increased utilization of medical services was the primary driver of higher medical costs, while wage growth drove increases in indemnit...
The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation proposed rules that it said would clarify the process for carriers to get wage information for seasonal workers and to request adjustments to their wage average wage calculations.
The division said proposed amendments to Sections 128.3, 128.6, and 128.7 would correct obsolete references and update the text for plain language and agency style. Proposed amendments to Section 128.5 would clarify the process for insurance carriers to request adjustments to a seasonal employee’s average weekly wage and get wage information from seasonal employe...
Schools and institutions helping retrain injured workers for new careers should be prohibited from outsourcing training to unvetted third parties, system observers said in response to rules proposed by the California Division of Workers' Compensation.
Commenters also suggested that the division clarify a proposal to require disclosure of financial interests when submitting bills, revise the rules to acknowledge the role support staff plays in vocational counseling, and eliminate the requirement that carriers send copies of the voucher to the state as well as the injured worker.
The DWC i...
The Nevada Supreme Court upheld the denial of a correctional officer’s claim for benefits for his COVID-19 infection.
Case: Holguin v. City of Henderson, No. 89345, 11/13/2025, published.
Facts: John Holguin worked as a correctional officer for the City of Henderson for 11 years.
In June 2021, Holguin was hospitalized and diagnosed with COVID-19.
He was treated and released but then hospitalized a second time for additional COVID-19 treatment, hypoxia, pneumonia and shortness of breath.
Procedural history: Holguin filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that his lo...
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that an insurance carrier’s petitions to modify the description of a worker’s injuries were properly granted and that liability for the worker’s award was properly split between two carriers.
Case: Factory Grinding Service Inc. v. Hanna, No. 1376 C.D. 2024, 11/07/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Lane Hanna worked for Factory Grinding Service Inc. as a salesman. He traveled to restaurants in Maryland and Pennsylvania twice a week in a company vehicle.
Hanna suffered injuries in October 2020 in a motor vehicle a...
A New York appellate court ruled that an injured worker’s employer was not entitled to summary judgment dismissing the third-party claims against it.
Case: Cotroneo v. Van Wagner Sign Erectors LLC, No. 162038/15, 11/06/2025, published.
Facts: Cosmo Cotroneo worked as an electrician for Nead Electric Inc. He allegedly suffered a traumatic brain injury and spinal injuries when an 82-pound lid to a gang box struck him on the head.
Procedural history: Cotroneo filed suit against Van Wagner Sign Erectors LLC and Vornado Realty Trust, seeking damages.
Van Wagner and Vornado filed third-par...
The Indiana Court of Appeals said an employer could not take a direct appeal from the denial of its motion to dismiss a worker’s application for adjustment of claim.
Case: Speedway LLC v. Shedd, No. 25A-EX-1386, 11/07/2025, published.
Facts: Kendall Shedd worked for Speedway LLC. While she was outside the Speedway store on a break, a car driven by Jerry Muzzillo struck her and pinned her to a wall.
Shedd suffered serious injuries, resulting in the amputation of her right leg above the knee.
Procedural history: Speedway’s workers’ compensation insurance provider paid Shedd...
A merit selection panel recommended three candidates for Gov. Tim Walz to consider for appointment as the permanent chief administrative law judge at the Court of Administrative Hearings.
Walz in June appointed Tim O'Malley to serve as temporary chief judge until the appointment of a permanent successor to Jenny Star, who had been chief ALJ since 2019.
The three candidates the selection panel recommended are Craig Gustafson, Kirsten Marshall and Jessica Palmer-Denig.
Gustafson is the legal counsel division director for the Minnesota Judicial Branch and advises justices, judges and c...
The value of room and board paid to workers as part of their wages would default to the market rate for calculating benefits under a bill moving through the New Jersey Legislature.
Currently, board or lodging furnished by an employer is valued at $25 per week unless another amount is set at the time of hiring.
S3772, by Sen. Joseph Lagana, D-Paramus, would require that the value of employer-provided housing and meals be the market value unless another rate is established at the time of hire.
If the employer continues to provide room and board to an injured worker during a period of...