TX - Court Upholds Dismissal of Worker's Claims for Negligence, Retaliation
07/14/2026 | 0
A Texas appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a worker’s claim for negligence and retaliation as time-barred.
Concepcion Benavidez worked as a certified nursing assistant at Cimarron Place Health & Rehabilitation Center. The facility is operated by Cascade-Nueces Health Services Ltd.
She allegedly suffered injuries at work in April 2022 when she collided with a resident-operated wheelchair during a power outage.
Benavidez filed suit against Cimarron Place and Cascade-Nueces, asserting that they had a duty of care to maintain a safe working environment, that they breached
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The Kentucky Supreme Court upheld an award of permanent total disability benefits for a worker with some ability to work and was able to briefly return to her prior position.
Case: Rural King Supply Inc. v. Sallie, No. 2025-SC-0070-WC, 06/25/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Evelyn Sallie worked for Rural King Supply Inc. At age 62, she sustained a severe crush injury to her right foot when a forklift ran over it in March 2021.
After the fractures healed, Sallie suffered neuropathic symptoms and fungal complications.
Three physicians evaluated Sallie as part of the workers’ compens
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the expansion of a worker’s claim to include the psychological conditions he developed after a work accident that involved being dragged by a moving vehicle.
Case: City of Bluefield v. S.S., No. 25-ICA-405, 06/30/2026, published.
Facts: A City of Bluefield employee, identified in court documents by his initials S.S., suffered injuries in November 2022 while performing maintenance on a garbage truck.
While S.S. was under the truck, it was struck by another vehicle, and he was dragged several feet.
S.S. saw Theresa Bishop, a li
A New York appellate court upheld a judgment dismissing a worker’s Labor Law claim for his injuries from being struck by a falling electrical cable.
Case: Bartnick v. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc., No. 2023-12421, 06/24/2026, published.
Facts: Jason P. Bartnick worked for Verizon. He was working on a public street to repair damaged telephone lines while Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc. employees worked nearby repairing electrical cables.
As a result of an electrical explosion related to ConEd's work, an electrical cable fell to the ground and struck Ba
The single most important thing a workers’ compensation program can do to reduce costs and improve outcomes for injured workers is also the simplest: Report claims promptly.
Prompt reporting enables prompt determination of compensability. Prompt compensability determination enables prompt provision of quality medical care. Prompt care shortens recovery. Shorter recovery reduces litigation. And litigation — not medical costs, not indemnity, not administrative expense — is the largest cost driver in the system.
Every other intervention operates downstream of that chain. T
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that permanently authorizes employers to pay indemnity benefits using prepaid debit cards.
On July 6, Newsom signed AB 1683, which eliminates language that would end the debit card pilot program at the start of 2027.
Lawmakers in 2018 authorized a pilot project giving employers and carriers the option to use prepaid cards to deliver benefits, with the written permission of the applicant. The law required that injured workers be able to withdraw the entire balance of the card in one transaction without incurring fees and have reasonable access to in-
Authorities in Southern Florida said a family-run criminal organization used shell companies to defraud workers' compensation carriers out of more than $600,000 in premiums by underreporting actual payroll.
An arrest warrant affidavit filed Wednesday and posted online by WPEC, a CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach, alleges that the scheme involved concealing about $9.42 million in payroll spread across three companies on policies that ran from 2024 to 2025.
JNJ Construction Services Inc. allegedly reported $1.7 million in payroll for a period during which it allegedly processed $4.4 mi
The Florida Supreme Court said an appellate court applied an inappropriate analysis in overturning benefits awarded to a rental car manager who was shot by an unknown attacker.
The court held that a claimant injured in a workplace assault can establish work-relatedness by showing either a work-related criminal motive for the attack, such as a robbery, or that the employee's job duties and work environment created an increased risk of assault.
Mohammed Bouayad worked as the general manager for Value Car Rental LLC at the Orlando International Airport Holiday Inn.
He was shot several
The Kentucky Supreme Court upheld an award of temporary total disability benefits to a worker with a broken toe from the date of her injury until she reached maximum medical improvement, even though her employer offered her an accommodated job before her MMI date.
Case: The Job Center v. Griffiths, No. 2025-SC-0372-WC, 06/25/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Amy Griffiths worked for The Job Center, a temporary employment agency. The Job Center placed her on an assignment with DHL in November 2021.
Griffiths was a sorter, which required her to sort thousands of pieces of mail in minutes by squatting
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the denial of a referral to a neurosurgeon and the closure of a worker’s claim for temporary total disability benefits.
Case: Harker v. ACNR Resources Inc., No. 26-ICA-26, 06/30/2026, published.
Facts: Timothy Harker sought treatment from Dr. Gregory Wood for back and right shoulder pain in March 2016.
Harker described pain on both sides of his back, with radiation down the right leg. Wood determined that Harker had disc bulges, but no herniations or spinal stenosis.
In August 2016, Harker saw Dr. Ronald Hargraves. He di
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker should have been granted summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his injuries from being struck by a falling object.
Case: Acosta v. 22-12 Jackson Owner LLC, No. 23090/19 and 43586/190, 6/30/2026, published.
Facts: Junior Carty Acosta worked for Quality Facility Solutions Corp. He allegedly suffered injuries while disposing of construction debris when some drywall slid off a forklift and fell onto him.
According to Acosta, the forklift was being operated by an employee of Feldman Lumber-US LBM LLC.
Procedural history: Acosta filed sui
The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld a determination that a worker’s claim for benefits was subject to forfeiture because he willfully made false statements in connection with his case.
Case: Januszewski v. North Dakota Workforce Safety, No. 20260175, 07/09/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: Michael Januszewski filed a workers’ compensation claim, which North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance denied.
An administrative law judge determined that Januszewski’s claim for benefits was subject to a forfeiture penalty because Januszewski willfully made false stat
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Friday approved a 6.6% rate hike.
Lara approved an advisory pure premium rate of $1.65 per $100 of payroll for policies incepting on or after Sept. 1.
The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau said the approved rate represents a 6.6% increase over Sept. 1, 2025, advisory pure premium rates adopted last year.
The WCIRB recommended that the commissioner set the advisory rate at $1.71 per $100 of payroll, which would have been a 10.4% increase. The actuary for Bickmore Actuarial, the firm representing public members
The California Division of Workers' Compensation is accepting applications for the next qualified medical evaluator examination, scheduled for October.
The DWC said the computer-based exam will be administered in person from Oct. 3-9 using Pearson VUE.
CPS HR Consulting, the vendor managing the exam, will send notices to interested candidates advising them of the registration and scheduling process, as well as testing sites.
The deadline to submit exam applications is Aug. 19.
For more information, contact the DWC’s Medical Unit at 510-286-3700 or by email at QMETest@dir.ca.
The California Division of Workers' Compensation updated several sections of the Official Medical Fee Schedule to conform to changes in the Medicare payment system.
The division revised the physician services and nonphysician practitioner services, the hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers, and the pathology and clinical laboratories fee schedules.
Changes to the physician and nonphysician practitioner section adopt the latest Medicare National Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value File, revised practitioner procedure-to-procedure edits and medically unlikely ed
