TX - Employer Gets Summary Dismissal of Exemplary Damages Claim for Grain Bin Worker's Death
01/09/2026 | 0
A Texas appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a claim for exemplary damages against an employer for a worker’s fatal grain bin accident.
Michael Molden worked for Heartland Co-Op Corp. as a grain bin cleaner. In September 2021, Molden entered a running grain bin to recover a vacuum hose and was engulfed by corn, causing his death.
The mother of Molden’s child brought suit against Heartland, seeking exemplary damages pursuant to Texas Labor Code Section 408.001(b).
Section 408.001(b) creates an exception to workers’ compensation exclusivity, allowing for exe...
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A New York appellate court ruled that a worker should have been granted partial summary judgment on his Labor Law claim and that one defendant should have had some of the claims against it dismissed as well.
Case: Llerena v. 975 Park Avenue Corp., No. 27073/20, 12/11/2025, published.
Facts: Jonathan Llerena was performing exterior building facade repairs when the suspended scaffold on which he was standing suddenly moved approximately 1 foot away from the building, causing the tip of the chipping hammer he was using to slip into a hole where a brick had been removed. This caused him to injur...
The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a determination that a worker’s injuries from a motorcycle accident while he was on a personal errand were not compensable.
Case: Appeal of Messina, No. 2024-0712, 01/06/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Michael Messina worked for Baroody & Greenwood LLC as a handyman and maintenance worker. He received assignments from his employer during the workday by phone and considered himself “always on call.”
On Nov. 10, 2020, Messina requested and received permission from his supervisor to leave work and retrieve his motorcycle from home, ap...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the denial of a worker’s claim for a knee injury.
Case: Underwood v. ACNR Resources Inc., No. 25-ICA-219, 12/04/2025, published.
Facts: Aaron Underwood worked for ACNR Resources Inc. He filed a workers’ compensation claim, alleging that he twisted his right knee at work on July 31, 2024, when he was going through a door.
Before the alleged injury, Underwood was diagnosed with and treated for right knee pain and swelling, and osteoarthritis of the right knee.
In April 2023, a magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed a fr...
Now that 2025 has faded to 2026, it’s time for a look at what stood out last year in the world of California workers’ compensation. If you had not been following the system carefully, what signal stood out amid the noise?
For the comp system, 2025 was not a blockbuster year. Still, there are always issues percolating to the forefront. Below, in no particular order, is a list of system developments and some comments on each.
1. No major system changes emerged from the 2025 California legislative session. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed two prominent bills, AB 1329...
Florida employers could lose their business license if they shift the costs of treating undocumented workers' occupational injuries to workers' compensation carriers or public health programs such as Medicare or Medicaid, under bills introduced this week.
HB 1307 and its identical companion measure, SB 1380, would hold employers that knowingly hire or employ someone who is not authorized to work in the country personally and fully liable for medical treatment costs and related expenses resulting from a workplace injury.
The bills would authorize a penalty of up to $50,000 if emp...
The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation repealed rules that have expired or that it says are no longer valid.
The division repealed a rule that required the Industrial Accident Board to publish quarterly reports, saying the board no longer exists and the authority for the required report was repealed in 1989.
Rules concerning informal and voluntary networks and medical disputes were also repealed. The division said in notices published in the Jan. 2 Texas State Register that the network rules expired in 2011, and the Court of Appeals in Austin declared the medical dispute rules inval...
The Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Commission announced that maximum benefits for injuries, illnesses and deaths increased 4.2% to match an increase in the state's average weekly wage.
The state's average weekly wage increased to $1,128.66 from $1,083.46.
Temporary total disability, permanent total disability and death benefits are all capped at the state's average wage and increased to $1,128.66 for injuries occurring in 2026.
The maximum permanent partial disability benefit is set in statute and remains unchanged at $375.
More information, including charts of benefit amou...
Orange County Superior Court Judge Israel Claustro on Wednesday agreed to plead guilty to a felony mail fraud charge for knowingly paying a provider suspended from California's workers' compensation system to write medical-legal reports connected to claims involving the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund.
According to documents filed with the federal court in Santa Ana, Claustro will plead guilty to one count of mail fraud for allegedly paying Dr. Kevin T. Do, of Pasadena, to perform exams, review medical records and write reports after Do's suspension from the work comp syst...
ID - State High Court Faults Comp Ruling After 18-Month Imaging Delay
The Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a state ruling that cut off benefits to an injured worker, criticizing the legal standard applied after nearly 18 months of delays in obtaining diagnostic imaging to evaluate his condition.
In Miklos v. L&W Supply, the state’s highest court held that Idaho’s Industrial Commission erred when it denied continued benefits to Christopher Miklos, a drywall delivery driver who suffered a compensable ankle injury in 2019 and later developed a recurrent tendon tear. The commission improperly treated the later injury as a new condition r...
The Arizona Court of Appeals published a decision setting aside an award that was based on a wage calculation that failed to account for what the injured worker was reasonably capable of earning.
In August, the appeals court issued an unpublished memorandum decision vacating an administrative law judge's calculation of an injured nurse's average monthly wage based on what she earned throughout 2021.
Shelia Douglas was injured in December 2021 when a patient at Montecito Post Acute Care and Rehabilitation kicked her in the head.
The judge calculated her average monthly wag...
The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that an administrative law judge's award closing a claim with no permanent impairment was supported by reasonable evidence.
Case: Theophile Tenuda v. Industrial Commission of Arizona et al., No. 1 CA-IC 25-0005, 01/02/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Theophile Tenuda was injured while working for Arizona Labor Force when he fell on his left hip while carrying a heavy cabinet in March 2022. He refused medical assistance, but left work and took pain medication at home. He returned to work the next day.
A week after the fall, he went to an emergency room complai...
The Internal Revenue Service increased the standard mileage reimbursement rate to 72.5 cents per mile, increasing the amount employers in some states must reimburse injured workers for medical travel.
Workers' compensation regulators in Alabama, California, Minnesota, South Carolina and Tennessee issued statements announcing the 2.5-cent-per-mile increase in reimbursement rates for injured workers who travel to medical appointments on or after Jan. 1.
The California Division of Workers' Compensation statement announcing the reimbursement rate for medical and medical-legal travel is h...
A bill introduced Tuesday in the 2026 Kentucky General Assembly aims to broaden workers' compensation protections for first responders by making certain psychological injuries compensable.
HB 26, referred to the Committee on Committees, proposes changing the definition of “injury” in the state’s workers' compensation statute. Under current Kentucky law, psychological conditions are considered compensable only when directly caused by a physical injury.
The proposal would expand that definition to include police officers, firefighters, emergency medical serv...
In a case of first impression, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that a corporate officer of a single-member corporation who rejects workers’ compensation insurance coverage is subject to a statutory damages cap if he is a “principal party” to the agreement for services.
The case was Ramirez v. KLM Construction, No. 25CA0061, 12/31/2025, published.
KLM Construction was hired as the general contractor to construct a residential duplex in Denver. KLM entered into an oral contract with All City Plumbing and Sewers Inc. to install plumbing for the project.
Juan M. Ramirez Jr...
The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the ability of an insurance carrier to rescind its acceptance of a worker’s claim and deny liability after discovering he had failed to disclose he had fallen off the roof of his home on the same day he allegedly suffered an injury at work.
Case: Alvarez v. SAIF Corp., No. 1077, 12/17/2025, published.
Facts: Juan Alvarez worked for D&R Masonry Restoration. He filed a workers’ compensation claim, alleging that he had suffered injuries in a fall from a ladder on Aug. 9, 2021.
SAIF Corp. accepted liability for the claim in October 2021.
SAIF ...
