NM - Appeals Court Affirms Attorney Fee Awards on Remand
12/23/2025 | 0
The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled that injured workers who challenged the constitutionality of a cap on attorney fees are not entitled to additional compensation.
David Pena and Eugene Trujillo maxed out their attorney fee awards at the administrative level. Trujillo received $22,500 in attorney fees. Pena suffered two injuries and was awarded $45,000.
Trujillo argued for an attorney fee of $73,000 to $90,000, and Pena requested $122,600.
The Court of Appeals certified questions for the high court to review, including whether the work comp attorney fee cap conflicts with court rules and...
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The growing role of artificial intelligence in workers' compensation will be highlighted at the California Division of Workers' Compensation's 33rd annual educational conference, with three sessions focused on how the technology is being used.
One session will cover the "good, bad and ugly of artificial intelligence in health care and workers' compensation," according to the agenda the division posted last week. Another session will provide a national perspective on AI in work comp. A third will focus on ensuring trust and effective collaboration using AI.
Other ses...
An Ohio man who claimed he was paralyzed after a workplace electric shock pleaded guilty to theft of government property and wire fraud, and he was sentenced to 31 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $537,071 in restitution, the Bureau of Workers' Compensation announced.
Michael Honaker claimed he was paralyzed and cognitively impaired after being shocked at work in 1998. The bureau said it launched an investigation after receiving a tip that he was able to drive a car and motorcycle.
"The investigation revealed that despite Honaker’s portrayal of being paral...
The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation is reducing the discount rate used to calculate the present value of future weekly payments for lump-sum settlements.
The discount rate for the first three months of 2026 will be 7.01%, down from 7.12% in the final quarter of 2025.
Every three months, the division adjusts the rate and sets it at a level equal to the U.S. Treasury constant maturity rate for one-year Treasury bills, plus 3.5%.
More information, including a chart of historical rates, is here.
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Raising a successful marijuana intoxication defense against an alleged work-related injury may have been complicated by recent legislation, but defendants can still make it a successful defense if they remember the finer points of proving proximate cause.
Recreational use of marijuana in California became legal for adults 21 and older on Nov. 9, 2016, when Proposition 64 (Adult Use of Marijuana Act) was approved by voters.
Even though recreational and medicinal marijuana use is legal under California state law, it remains illegal under federal law.
When raising an intoxication defense a...
A U.S. Postal Service worker was indicted for allegedly failing to disclose a divorce, thereby collecting augmented workers' compensation benefits to which she was not entitled, according to federal prosecutors in Illinois.
Graciela Venegas started collecting workers' compensation benefits in 2012, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois. She claimed her spouse as a dependent, which entitled her to receive augmented benefits.
Workers without any dependents receive benefits at two-thirds of their preinjury earnings. Workers with at least one d...
A federal appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a longshoreman’s claims for his injuries from a fall from a ladder leading to a ship’s cargo hold.
Case: Alvarado v. Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG MS Sapphire, No. 24-20476, 12/08/2025, published.
Facts: Stevedoring company Jacintoport International was the borrowing employer of temporary laborers provided by staffing agency Labor Finders. JPI and Labor Finders separately secured workers’ compensation coverage for the temp laborers.
In December 2020, Labor Finders assigned Alberto Alvarado to ...
SC - Lawmakers Move to Boost Worker Protections, Transparency
South Carolina lawmakers have introduced a pair of bills to strengthen protections for injured workers by increasing transparency in the workers' compensation claims process and raising minimum benefit levels for those who are totally disabled.
House Bill 4820, introduced Dec. 16 and referred to the Committee on Judiciary, would increase the minimum weekly compensation rate for workers who are totally disabled, from $75 to $150, beginning July 1, 2027. Under current law, workers receive two-thirds of their average weekly wages, subject to minimum and maximum limits.
The bill would also e...
A Texas appellate court, in a case of first impression, held that a Houston Police Academy cadet is covered by the waiver of governmental immunity that allows first responders to sue their employers for workers' compensation retaliation.
Mercedes Hirsch was injured in a physical agility test while training to become a Houston police officer. She said a campaign of harassment began after she filed a workers' compensation claim.
She sued the city for discrimination in December 2023.
A trial court initially dismissed her case, finding that governmental immunity prevented it from hearin...
Sacramento, CA – [December 10, 2025] – Today, POWER proudly announced its official launch as a laser-focused non-profit organized to take direct action against fraud and criminal activity in California’s temporary staffing industry.
“One of the biggest crimes taking place in California’s workforce is hiding in plain sight. The temporary staffing industry has become a largely unregulated playground for criminals—one ...
A federal appellate court ruled that an Ohio employer’s insurance carriers had no obligation to indemnify it for the settlement it paid to the family of a worker who was killed on the job.
Case: Encore Industries Inc. v. Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America, No. 25-3076, 12/08/2025, unpublished.
Facts: Todd Shaffer worked for Encore Industries Inc., an Ohio-based plastics manufacturer. He was killed at work in 2021 while attempting to clear a jam in a thermoforming trim press machine.
Encore had insurance coverage from both Travelers Property Casualty Co. and American ...
A federal appellate court ruled that the presumption under the Black Lung Benefits Act for coal miners who put in 15 or more years of underground work can also apply to an above-ground worker.
Case: Fairfield Southern Co. v. OWCP, No. 24-10651, 12/08/2025, published.
Facts: Billie Barr Jr. worked as a railroad engineer for U.S. Steel and Fairfield Southern Co., transporting rail cars to and from the Concord Mine in Alabama.
The mine closed in the early 1980s, and the site was converted to a coal preparation plant. A system of conveyor belts transported coal to the plant from the Oak Gr...
A New York appellate court ruled that part of a worker’s Labor Law claim should have been dismissed and that some of the defendants were entitled to indemnification from his employer.
Case: Bordonaro v E.C. Provini Co. Inc., No. 157409/20 596019/20, 12/09/2025, published.
Facts: Steven Bordonaro worked for CBI Drywall as a foreman on the buildout of a retail space for Bath & Body Works LLC. He suffered injuries while using a pallet jack to unload a cabinet from a truck.
The cabinet weighed about 1,000 pounds and measured 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and approx...
The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld a finding that a medical clinic was subject to the workers’ compensation law because it regularly employed more than five people and that an employee was entitled to benefits for her injuries from assisting a falling patient.
Case: Physicians’ Pain and Spine Specialists PLLC v. Kluczkowski, No. 2025-WC-00069-COA, 12/09/2025, published.
Facts: Dana Kluczkowski worked as a medical assistant for Physicians’ Pain and Spine Specialists PLLC.
She filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that she suffered an injury while as...
A jury acquitted a Southern California neurosurgeon charged with conspiracy to commit workers' compensation fraud, according to a report by MyNewsLA.com and information posted to the Orange County Superior Court website.
Jurors on Thursday found San Diego neurosurgeon Dr. Vrijesh Tantuwaya not guilty of the conspiracy charge, according to the court's website.
The jury also split 7-5 for acquittal on the false or fraudulent claim charge, according to MyNewsLA.com. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29 on a motion to dismiss the remaining charge.
Prosecutors in a 2024 complaint all...
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division fined a manufacturer $28,478 for intentionally keeping a faulty system used to store raw materials that exposed workers to struck-by and crushing hazards.
The agency said Avalon International Aluminum violated a workplace safety rule by refusing to follow the installation and maintenance requirements set by the manufacturer of an industrial storage rack.
"The decision allowed hundreds of pounds of raw materials to sit atop unanchored cantilever storage racks, some with damaged or upside-down baseplates, rising as high as 18 feet," ...
The California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation elected Nicholas Roxborough to serve as chairman in 2026.
Roxborough is the managing partner of Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye & Adreani and specializes in representing insured and self-insured employers, as well as large stakeholders, in complex workers’ compensation insurance and regulatory issues.
He was first appointed to CHSWC to represent employers in 2021. He was reappointed to a second four-year term in September.
Roxborough, who earned his law degree from Southwestern School of Law in L...