WA - Court Rejects Challenges to Pension Reductions
08/05/2026 | 0
The Washington Court of Appeals rejected challenges to the reduction in compensation based on the survivorship options that two permanently and totally disabled workers selected for their pensions and their receipt of Social Security benefits.
James Lorkowski sustained an injury in the course of employment, and the Department of Labor & Industries found that he was permanently and totally disabled. The department approved him for pension benefits beginning in August 2020.
The department sent Lorkowski a letter informing him that because he was married, he could choose from opti
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The Illinois Appellate Court overturned a pension board’s denial of a police officer’s application for a line-of-duty disability pension.
Case: Guess v. Board of Trustees of the Dolton Police Pension Fund, No. 1-25-1327, 08/03/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Theresa Guess served as a police officer in the Village of Dolton. In March 2020, she applied to the Board of Trustees of the Dolton Police Pension Fund to receive line-of-duty disability benefits.
Guess claimed that she had begun experiencing disabling seizures as a result of a motor vehicle collision in September 2018.
Tha
A Texas appellate court upheld the dismissal of a worker’s claims against her employer as barred by exclusivity.
Case: Dudley v. East Texas Educational Insurance Association, No. 12-25-00179-CV, 07/31/2026, published.
Facts: Patricia Kay Dudley worked for Chapel Hill ISD as a paraprofessional and bus driver.
She suffered injuries at work in September 2022 when a bus driven by a Chapel Hill employee struck the rear of Dudley’s bus.
Dudley received workers’ compensation benefits.
Procedural history: Dudley, acting as her own attorney, sued Chapel Hill and the East Te
A divided New York appellate court ruled that a Labor Law defendant was not entitled to summary judgment dismissing the claims against it and that summary judgment should have been granted against it on a cross-claim for contractual indemnification.
Case: Mazzurco v. Broadway 52nd LP, No. 157381/17, 07/30/2026, published.
Facts: Onofrio Mazzurco was a laborer for J.T. Magen and Co. Inc. He suffered injuries when he fell down a stairwell at a jobsite.
According to Mazzurco, the stairwell was very dark as he descended, and his foot got tangled in a loop of wire, causing him to trip and f
Jacksonville, FL – July 10, 2026 – PhysNet welcomes Michelle Despres, PT, EMBA as Chief Operating Officer, strengthening its leadership team as the company enters its next stage of national growth.
A licensed physical therapist and seasoned healthcare executive, Michelle brings a strong blend of clinical insight, operational leadership, and people-centered strategy. S
At a meeting of California’s Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation, a payer and network advocate argued that the state’s chaotic medical provider network system is a sterling success, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The American Association of Payers, Administrators and Networks claimed that a general provider shortage, not a broken system riddled with pitfalls for providers, is the reason injured workers struggle to find doctors willing to treat them.
AAPAN shared findings from its white paper&n
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health cited three roofing companies in Los Angeles a combined $282,420 for multiple workplace safety violations following an inspection of a worker's fatal fall.
The agency commonly known as Cal/OSHA said in a statement that an employee repairing a roof leak at a two-story residential property in Westchester fell to his death Jan. 9, 2026.
Cal/OSHA said its inspectors determined that three employers were responsible for protecting workers from hazards associated with the roofing work. The employers allowed the crew to work on the
A bill in Congress would mandate that injured federal workers receive medical treatment through managed care networks.
HR 9869 would also direct the Labor Department to establish treatment protocols for injured federal workers based on the best practices of the healthcare industry.
The bill would direct the head of each federal agency to contract with a managed care network to treat injured workers.
Networks would be required to "make reasonable attempts to provide" the contracted services, a requirement that would include maintaining "a sufficient number of providers&q
The Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission announced that a new validation step when uploading documents through WebFile will go into effect Thursday.
Before completing an upload, users will be asked to review selected documents and confirm they belong to the correct claim. Users will have to enter the last four characters of the claim number before documents can be uploaded.
The commission said the extra step is intended to prevent documents from being uploaded to the wrong claim.
The new step is applicable only to claimants, claims administrators and attorneys using the WebFile sys
The California Workers' Compensation Institute on Monday reported that the surge in cumulative trauma claims could not be attributed to commonly cited factors such as employment growth, worker tenure or multiple filings.
CWCI, in its report to the industry, documented substantial growth in the number of Southern California attorneys representing injured workers in cumulative trauma cases against employers in Northern California, from about one-quarter of claims to nearly four-in-five over the study period. However, it did not determine whether that change contributed to the statewide
An Ohio appellate court ruled that a worker receiving temporary total disability benefits after surgery related to an industrial injury remained eligible for TTD after she voluntarily retired.
Case: Fox v. Industrial Commission, No. 24AP-140, 07/30/2026, published.
Facts: Phyllis Fox worked for Metallus Inc. She injured her right arm at work in March 2020.
Fox’s workers’ compensation claim was allowed for fracture of the right radius with malunion.
In January 2022, Metallus offered lump-sum, early full-pension payments to certain employees. Fox was eligible, bas
The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals upheld a determination that a worker had suffered a permanent total disability and that he was limited to schedule benefits for the loss of his fingers.
Case: Harris v. Lineage Logistics, No. CL-2025-1033, 07/31/2026, published.
Facts: Roderick Harris worked for Lineage Logistics. He suffered injuries in the course of his employment that resulted in the partial amputation of his right index and middle fingers, and of his left index finger.
Procedural history: He filed a complaint against Lineage, seeking workers’ compensation benefits. Harris al
A New York appellate court ruled that the defendants in a Labor Law action were not entitled to amend their answer to assert the affirmative defense of release.
Case: Navarro v. Malcarne Contracting Inc., No. 2024-10633, 07/29/2026, published.
Facts: Francisco Navarro allegedly was injured while working on a project to replace skylights at a home when the lift on which he was working tipped over.
The property was owned by Max and Melissa Polaner, who had hired Malcarne Inc. to serve as general contractor on the project.
Malcarne retained Navarro’s employer, Francisco Remodeling Inc.,
A New York appellate court upheld a jury verdict finding that the defendants in a Labor Law case violated two Industrial Code provisions but were not the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries.
Case: Gomez v. City of New York, Nos. 2023-11375 and 2023-11377, 07/29/2026, published.
Facts: Jimmy Gomez suffered injuries while performing construction work on premises owned by the City of New York, the New York City Department of Education and the New York City School Construction Authority.
The city entities hired E.W. Howell Co. LLC as the general contractor of the projec
The California Lawyers Association will host its Annual Awards Ceremony and Celebration Sept. 26 at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
CLA will present a lifetime achievement award to Arthur Johnson, founding attorney of the Johnson Law Firm in San Jose.
Johnson, a certified specialist in workers’ compensation, took on his father’s law practice in 1965. In addition to advocating for injured workers, his practice also involves the coordination of benefits for Social Security disability, long-term disability and state disability.
CLA will also recognize Jamie Spitzer a
The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld a finding that a worker suffered a total occupational loss and was entitled to permanent total disability benefits.
Christy Moore began working on a production line for Ajinomoto Foods North America in September 2018.
After Moore was assigned to a position packing flash-frozen burritos into boxes, she began experiencing pain in her hands. She reported it to a supervisor, who agreed to move Moore to a different position until she could see a doctor.
Moore went to Dr. Theresa Pickle, who cleared her to return to work.
Moore stopped working on Sept
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the civil claims against an employer for a fatal explosion as barred by workers’ compensation exclusivity.
Case: Dodge v. Didion Milling Inc., No. 2025AP3, 07/30/2026, unpublished.
Facts: On May 29, 2017, a fire occurred in a corn milling facility owned and operated by Didion Milling Inc. That night, after the fire had been put out, production at the mill was resumed.
Two days later, another fire started inside the mill, this time resulting in an explosion that resulted in the deaths of five Didion employees and injurie
