TX - Court Rejects COVID-19 Death Benefits Over 'Unreliable' Expert Testimony
04/30/2026 | 0
A Texas appellate court affirmed a decision denying a family's bid for workers' compensation death benefits, ruling that it could not find error in a lower court's decision to exclude an expert's opinion as unreliable.
The same issues that rendered the expert's opinion unpersuasive also doomed any non-expert evidence suggesting that John Hill contracted COVID-19 through his employment with Brazoria County, the court said in finding no error with the trial court granting no-evidence summary judgment for the county.
"In short, [the expert] did not explain his...
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A federal appellate court ruled that a worker needs to prove only that he worked for 125 days in coal mines during a calendar year to have a “year” of qualifying coal mine employment for purposes of the Black Lung Benefits Act presumption.
Case: Hayes v. OWCP, No. 24-11260, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Ermine Hayes worked for Cowin & Co. from 1955 to 1986. Hayes intermittently worked underground constructing mine shafts, but not all of his work was done in mines.
Procedural history: In 2015, Hayes filed a claim under the Black Lung Benefits Act.
An administrative...
An Ohio appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment that found a worker was entitled to benefits for her injury from an unexplained fall.
Case: Vega v. Grafton Correctional Facility, Nos. 25CA012240 and 25CA012247, 04/06/2026, published.
Facts: Nancy Vega worked for the Grafton Correctional Facility. She fell while at work while walking from one room to another to access a machine on which she intended to scan a document.
Vega was wearing tennis shoes and walking quickly when the accident happened. She did not identify any defects in the floor or any substances on the surfa...
A New York appellate court ruled that a third-party defendant in a Labor Law action was not entitled to summary judgment dismissing the indemnification and contribution claims against it.
Case: Jadan v. 414 Gerard Owner LLC, No. 815648/22, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: 414 Gerard Owner LLC hired Monadnock Construction Inc. to serve as the general contractor for a construction project.
Monadnock contracted with Citywide Container Service Corp. to provide the construction site with mini containers to be used for the collection of construction debris.
According to Citywide, its practice was t...
One of the most overlooked and underutilized tools in workers’ compensation is also one of the simplest: a clear, accurate physical job description of the work the worker was doing at the time of the injury.
Early in my career, I encountered a case that perfectly illustrates why this matters. This true story has stayed with me because it demonstrates how easily a misunderstanding about a job can affect medical decisions and patient outcomes.
Jack walked into an occupational clinic with a low-back strain. He was 6 feet, 3 inches tall, all muscle, wearing dirty jeans and a clean but ...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals overturned a denial of additional treatment and the closure of a worker's claim.
Case: Dziatkowicz v. Hancock County Board of Education, No. 25-ICA-326, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: William Dziatkowicz worked for the Hancock County Board of Education. He injured his back at work in March 2023 while performing heavy lifting.
Dziatkowicz went to the hospital and underwent a computed tomography scan.
The results revealed a mild annular bulge without stenosis at L1-L2; an annular bulge with moderate to severe bilateral stenosis at L...
A group of 20 state officials submitted a comment urging the U.S. Department of Labor to withdraw its proposal to relax standards for independent contractor classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The coalition includes attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia and several municipal labor offices.
In February, the department proposed adopting an economic realities test that will ...
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed bills that aim to make it easier for specified first responders to receive workers' compensation benefits for heart disease and hypertension.
The governor on Monday signed HB 878 and an identical companion measure, SB 449, which apply the heart disease and hypertension presumption to correctional deputies in Carroll County. He also signed HB 347, which clarifies how firefighters demonstrate disability for presumptive hypertension and heart disease claims.
Maryland law generally requires partial or total incapacitation for an injured worker to be consid...
The California Division of Workers' Compensation issued administrative penalties totaling a little more than $1 million following 36 random and four targeted audits in 2024 that found $442,661 in unpaid compensation.
The division, in its latest Profile Audit Review report, said about 10% of the 2,698 claims reviewed in 2024 had unpaid indemnity benefits. The division reports $201,696 in unpaid temporary disability or salary continuation benefits and $195,770 in unpaid permanent disability. An additional $44,158 in self-imposed increases for late payments was outstanding, as was $1,03...
A federal appellate court denied review of a coal mine operator’s challenge to a worker’s award of black lung benefits.
Case: Wolf Run Mining Co. v. OWCP, No. 24-2262, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Harold Baisden spent more than 27 years in coal mine employment. He filed a claim for compensation under the Black Lung Benefits Act, and Wolf Run Mining Co. was determined to be the potentially liable employer.
Wolf Run challenged the claim, asserting that Baisden did not suffer from any form of pneumoconiosis. It presented the testimony of Dr. Thomas Jarboe and Dr. Mohammed Ranavaya...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a decision of the Board of Review finding that a worker was entitled to a neuromuscular electrical stimulator for her back injury.
Case: Thomas Health System Inc. v. Spence, No. 25-ICA-396, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Tina Spence worked for the Thomas Health System Inc. She sought medical treatment in February 2016 for a back injury that occurred when a patient grabbed her around the neck and pulled her down. The clinical impression was an acute lumbar strain.
A claims administrator for the health system’s insurance car...
A New York appellate court ruled that the defendants in a Labor Law action should have been granted summary judgment dismissing part of the claims against them.
Case: Gonzalez v 60-74 Gansevoort Street LLC, No. 157520/17, 595067/18, 595292/21, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Luis Francisco Castro Gonzalez allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project when a piece of wood broke off the roof and struck him.
Procedural history: Gonzalez filed suit against 60-74 Gansevoort Street LLC and MJM Associates Construction LLC, asserting claims for negligence and violations of the L...
A New York appellate court vacated a grant of summary judgment for the defendant on a Labor Law claim and granted summary judgment for the worker.
Case: Narvaez v. 12 West 31st Street Corp., No. 152206/21, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Wilson Narvaez allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project at a property owned by 12 West 31st Street Corp.
According to Narvaez, he was welding a handrail between the 10th and 11th floors on a fire escape when he slipped and fell down several freshly painted, wet steps.
Procedural history: Narvaez filed suit against the property...
NATL. - WCRI: Comp Claim Costs Rose 6% Annually From 2022 to 2025
Total workers' compensation claim costs increased by an average of 6% per year from 2022 to 2025 in the median study state, driven by rising medical payments, indemnity benefits and claim administration expenses, according to research released Tuesday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.
The findings, featured in 18 reports for all the study states, show costs had remained relatively flat through 2022 before climbing again over the past several years.
“The increase reflects sustained growth in the last few years across all major components of a claim, including medi...
Lawmakers might have overlooked the fact that workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy for injuries arising from employment when they passed a law allowing teachers to sue school districts over school shootings, according to a report by the Colorado Sun.
Eric Sinclair, a dean at East High School in Denver who was shot and injured by a student in 2023, filed a lawsuit pursuant to the 2015 Claire Davis School Safety Act.
A judge in March dismissed the claim, citing exclusivity. The judge was reportedly not persuaded by the argument that the decision rendered the school shooting law me...
Whether a subcontractor hired to line a pit with concrete was responsible for assessing the safety of the excavation work performed by the hiring party is a question of fact that precludes summary judgment, a California appeals court ruled in an unpublished decision.
The owner of De Jong's Dover Dairy LLC excavated a pit and hired Supreme Construction Inc. to pour and install concrete walls. Supreme employee Luis Felipe Diaz Ornelas was injured when the trench walls collapsed while he was working inside the pit.
Ornelas sued the dairy.
He introduced the opinion of a civil and geotechnic...
