TX - Exclusivity Shields Property Owner From Claims by Subcontractor's Employee
03/30/2026 | 0
A Texas appellate court ruled that a property owner should have been granted summary judgment dismissing a civil claim against it by a subcontractor’s employee for alleged injuries sustained on the worksite.
Tyler Whitmire worked for RRR Electripro LLC. He allegedly suffered injuries while working at a property owned by Motiva Enterprises LLC.
Whitmire filed a civil suit against Motiva. The company filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that it was immune from civil liability under the Workers’ Compensation Act.
Motiva claimed it had entered into a master service ag...
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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously ruled that when an injured worker is a sole proprietor, he does not forfeit his entitlement to benefits by failing to notify his company’s insurance carrier of the injury within 120 days.
Pennsylvania law disallows benefits if a worker fails to notify his employer of an injury within 120 days, the Supreme Court said, but when the worker is his own employer, the notice obligation does not transfer to the insurance carrier.
The Supreme Court said the Commonwealth Court erred in reaching the contrary conclusion in Erie Insurance Property & Ca...
A Missouri court rejected an employer’s appeal of denied motions to dismiss civil claims filed by workers who were the victims of an attempted robbery.
Case: Harris v. Starbucks Corp., No. ED113748, 03/03/2026, published.
Facts: Michael Harris and Devin Jones-Ransom both worked for the Starbucks Corp. They were working together at a Starbucks location in St. Louis on Dec. 17, 2023, when two gunmen attempted to rob the store.
Harris and Jones-Ransom fought back and were able to subdue one of the gunmen with the help of another individual. The other gunman fled and w...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his injuries from an excavator accident, and his employer was entitled to summary judgment on the third-party claims against it.
Case: Figueroa v. Empire Sewer & Water Inc., No. 159739/18, 595099/19, 03/10/2026, published.
Facts: A property owner, 28-41 Steinway LLC, hired a contractor to replace sewer pipes in the street. The contractor ordered the delivery of concrete from Corona Ready Mix Inc.
Julian Figueroa was a delivery worker for Corona. He suffered injuries at the wor...
Whether you are an attorney, hearing representative or claims adjuster, there is no question that you routinely deal with cumulative trauma claims. But when a CT is alleged over a long span of employment, it can raise an interesting question: Is this truly one CT injury, or do the facts support multiple CT injuries occurring during different periods?
That question matters because once a claim is accepted, while the applicant would be entitled to benefits, the defense must still evaluate who ultimately bears responsibility. In many CT cases, liability is generally determined with Labo...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for a fall from a scaffold.
Case: Saquicela-Villa v. City of New York, No. 806091/23, 03/05/2026, published.
Facts: Lauro Saquicela-Villa fell from an elevated scaffold while working on a construction project for the City of New York.
According to Saquicela-Villa, the scaffold was shaky and unstable. He claimed it had no guardrails, no anchoring points allowing him to tie himself off, no hoists, and no other equipment to assist him and his co-workers in handing down wooden slabs to differe...
NJ - Court Revives Coverage Dispute, Sanctions Attorney Over AI-Cited Cases
A New Jersey appellate court on Friday reinstated a workers' compensation insurer’s coverage dispute after finding that a lower court improperly dismissed the case with prejudice, while also sanctioning the plaintiff’s attorney for citing nonexistent case law generated by artificial intelligence.
In Amtrust North America etc. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division said AmTrust North America could proceed with its declaratory judgment action, but only after correcting a key procedural error.
The disp...
The Utah Supreme Court on Thursday narrowed a long-standing rule barring employer liability waivers and revived a ski resort’s defense against negligence claims brought by two former employees injured in an off-duty accident.
In Deer Valley Resort Co. v. Olson, the court held that a more than century-old precedent invalidating employer waivers of liability applies only to work-related injuries, not to injuries sustained outside the scope of employment.
The case stems from a 2020 accident in which two ski resort employees, William Olson and Lark Pyper, were injured while ridin...
The Maryland Appellate Court ruled that a public employer was not entitled to offset its payment of service-connected partial disability retirement benefits against the workers’ compensation benefits awarded to a former firefighter.
Joseph Dennie worked as a firefighter for Montgomery County for 28 years. In June 2018, he was granted a service-connected partial disability retirement due to a number of specified conditions. Dennie’s date of disability for purposes of his retirement benefit was March 9, 2016.
In April 2018, Dennie filed a workers’ compensation claim, al...
A Louisiana appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to benefits for his injuries from an accident that occurred before he clocked in, but he was not entitled to fees or penalties, as his employer had reasonably contested the claim.
Case: Dunn v. Pallets Associates Inc. No. 2025 CA 1051, 02/27/2026, published.
Facts: John Melvin Leon Dunn worked as a truck driver for Pallets Associates Inc. He suffered injuries on June 12, 2024, while crossing the street to clock in for work.
Dunn worked a shift that began at 6 a.m., but according to him, he always arrived early for work. Workers we...
A New York appellate court ruled that a homeowner was not entitled to summary judgment dismissing a worker’s Labor Law claims against him.
Case: Ballard v. Beard, No. CV-24-1602, 03/05/2026, published.
Facts: Charles Ballard suffered injuries while performing renovation work at a vacation home owned by Richard Beard when he fell into a hole that had been excavated for the installation of a door in the basement.
Procedural history: Ballard filed suit against Beard, asserting claims for negligence and violations of the Labor Law.
Beard answered and filed a third-party action against Ra...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker should have been granted partial summary judgment on his Labor Law claims for his injuries from a fall from a scaffold.
Case: Bustamante v. BSD 370 Lexington LLC, No. 2024-07704, 03/04/2026, published.
Facts: BSD 370 Lexington LLC contracted with Gateway Builders Corp. to perform renovation work at a building it owned on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.
Melvin Bustamante worked for Gateway. His assigned tasks for the project required the use of a scaffold.
As Bustamante was attempting to move the scaffold while standing on the platform, it&...
An Ohio appellate court dismissed a self-represented worker’s petition for a writ of mandamus due to her failure to comply with procedural rules.
Case: Thompson v. BWC, No. 25AP-561, 03/03/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: Chesney Nicole Thompson filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, acting as her own attorney.
Thompson alleged that she has an active workers’ compensation claim resulting from a workplace injury in November 2021.
Thompson claimed that the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and the Industrial Commission violated numerous statutory and adm...
A sharp slowdown in hiring paired with continued wage growth is creating a mixed outlook for the workers' compensation system heading into 2026, according to a first-quarter economic briefing released Thursday by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
While overall economic growth remained stable in 2025, the report points to a weakened labor market, with job gains totaling just 116,000 for the year — the slowest pace outside a recession since 2003. That slowdown, however, has not translated into a proportional decline in workers' compensation premiums, Boca Raton,...
A man was charged with theft after filing a second workers' compensation claim that allegedly revealed he was collecting benefits while working, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced.
Jon P. Traff pleaded not guilty to a single count of first-degree theft in February.
The department said the 49-year-old Traff started collecting benefits in 2017 after injuring his back, neck and shoulders working as a sales manager for Mission Foods. In July 2024, he filed a second claim for an unspecified injury suffered while working as a sales director for Flowers Baki...
Heat exposure, workplace violence and structural changes to coverage systems are key emerging issues shaping the workers' compensation landscape in 2026, according to a new report by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
The report, released Tuesday, indicates that while familiar policy debates — including mental injury claims, presumption laws, cancer initiatives and worker classification — remain active, regulators and lawmakers are increasingly focused on newer risks that could carry significant cost implications for employers and insurers.
Among those ...
