IA - Meatpacking Worker's Degloving Qualifies as Schedule Injury
11/06/2025 | 0
The Iowa Court of Appeals upheld a determination that a worker’s degloving injuries to his arm and leg were schedule injuries.
Mecene Laguerre worked for JBS USA Holdings Inc. at a meatpacking facility. His job normally involved cutting the tongues of hog carcasses, but one day in October 2021, Laguerre was ordered to work a different position as a skinner.
The skinner checks hog carcasses for feces. If a carcass were contaminated, Laguerre was supposed to flag it, and his co-workers would remove the hog from the line to clean it.
When trying to remove a flagged hog, on...
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A California appellate court has denied rehearing of a dispute about the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board's jurisdiction over claims filed by professional athletes.
Last month, the 4th District Court of Appeal issued a published decision in Atlanta Falcons v. WCAB, which rejected the board’s position that it could hear Wayne Gandy’s claim because he had signed his rookie contract in California.
Gandy started his professional football career in 1994 after being drafted as an offensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams. The team relocated to St. Louis in 1995, where G...
The Arizona Court of Appeals clarified the burden of proof on a firefighter seeking benefits for his rare form of brain cancer.
Case: Vande Krol v. Industrial Commission, No. 1 CA-IC 22-0046, 10/31/2025, unpublished.
Facts: Robert Vande Krol began working for the Superstition Fire and Medical Department in 2002.
When he was hired, Vande Krol underwent a physical examination, which showed no signs of cancer.
In August 2020, as part of his required annual examination, Vande Krol underwent a full-body cancer screening, which found a tumor in his brain.
In October 2020, Vande Krol u...
A New York appellate court ruled that an injured worker’s employer was not entitled to dismissal of the claims against it for indemnification, but the claims against it for breach of contract and attorney fees should have been dismissed.
Case: Pacheco v. Georgetown Eleventh Avenue Owners LLC, No. 157529/17, 10/28/2025, published.
Facts: Jose Pacheco allegedly suffered injuries while working for Cauldwell-Wingate Co. LLC on a construction project for Georgetown Eleventh Avenue Owners LLC.
Procedural history: Pacheco filed suit against Georgetown, which then filed suit against Cauldwell...
California workers’ compensation costs have hit their highest numbers in more than 20 years, according to a Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau report released earlier this month.
The WCIRB’s latest Quarterly Experience Report states that California’s combined ratios are 127%, which exceeds any other combined ratio in the last 24 years. For those unfamiliar with the combined ratio, when the ratio is over 100%, carriers are losing money, and when it is under 100%, carriers are making money.
The combined ratio tends to fluctuate over the years&nb...
A New York appellate court ruled that the conflicting accounts of a worker’s alleged accident made summary judgment on his Labor Law claim inappropriate.
Case: Rosario v. Gentry Tenants Co-op, No. 155290/15 595785/16, 10/30/2025, published.
Facts: Fransico Rosario allegedly suffered injuries while transporting a water tank on a hand truck up a short set of stairs.
Rosario said he and a co-worker were holding one of the truck’s handles while two other workers pushed from the bottom.
The co-worker holding the other handle cut his hand on the water tank as the group was ...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld an increase in a worker’s permanent partial disability award for a broken leg.
Case: Blackhawk Mining LLC v. Weis, No. 25-ICA-32, 10/24/2025, published.
Facts: Christian Weis worked for Blackhawk Mining LLC. He filed a workers’ compensation claim for an injury to his left leg, which occurred on Oct. 5, 2022.
Weis said he was driving a truck and came around a corner, hit another vehicle and became pinned inside the cab.
On Oct. 6, 2022, Weis underwent an open reduction internal fixation of the left tibia.
A cl...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a 13% permanent partial disability award for a worker’s wrist injury.
Case: Murray American Energy Inc. v. Gasvoda, No. 25-ICA-78, 10/24/2025, published.
Facts: Joseph Gasvoda worked for Murray American Energy Inc. He injured his wrist at work in June 2019.
A claims administrator for Murray’s insurance carrier accepted liability for a wrist sprain.
In June 2019, Gasvoda underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan. Gasvoda had a scapholunate ligament injury and scaphoid fracture nonunion when he was younger. The MRI show...
The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation said Trinity Couriers Inc. pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining workers’ compensation insurance coverage and agreed to pay $800,000 in restitution to Texas Mutual Insurance Co.
Fraud investigators with the DWC showed that between 2016 and 2018, Trinity underreported its payroll to Texas Mutual for workers’ compensation coverage.
Trinity Couriers is one of several delivery services that share common control and ownership under Mike Miller of Miller Transportation Management, which required disclosure. Failing to disclos...
The Special Investigative Unit of RJN Investigations, Inc. was recently notified of a felony arrest based upon a documented fraud referral. In this case, the claimant was employed as a caretaker of the California Department of Social Services - I.H.S.S. At the time of the claimant's deposition, he appeared wearing a back support and ambulating with the aid of a cane. Proactively,...
A Texas appellate court ruled that a truck driver could not be compelled to arbitrate his personal injury claims against his nonsubscribing employer.
LKQ Automotive is a Texas company that ships auto parts to various states. Adan Romo worked for LKQ as a commercial truck driver.
When he was hired in 2019, Romo signed documents acknowledging that LKQ was a Texas Workers’ Compensation Act nonsubscriber, and he received a copy of the company’s injury benefit plan.
The plan stated that certain injury-related disputes, including personal injury and negligent hiring claims, would be s...
The Superior Court of New Jersey’s Appellate Division reinstated an injured police officer’s malpractice claim against his former attorney.
Case: Dutcher v. Stathis, No. A-3135-23, 10/23/2025, unpublished.
Facts: John Dutcher worked as a police officer for the Woodbridge Township Police Department. In November 2014, the department’s extra-duty coordinator assigned Dutcher to direct traffic for roadwork being done by Black Rock Enterprises LLC.
According to Dutcher, officers are permitted to take extra-duty assignments beyond their regular shifts to provide services, s...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker should have been granted partial summary judgment on his Labor Law claims and that the defendants should have been granted summary judgment on their indemnification claim against his employer.
Case: Peralta v. Hunter Roberts Construction Group LLC, No. 159317/18 and 595238/19, 10/28/2025, published.
Facts: RXR Garvies P1 Building H Owner LLC hired Hunter Roberts Construction Group LLC to serve as the general contractor for an apartment construction project on a property it owned. Hunter subcontracted the installation of all timber framing t...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the denial of compensability for a worker’s right shoulder conditions and upheld the denial of authorization for treatment.
Case: Snelson v. Bobby Snelson Bob’s Painting, No. 25-ICA-202, 10/24/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Bobby Snelson saw Dr. Nick Zervos in August 2020. He reported that he was painting on a metal roof earlier that day, slid off and fell on his right wrist and right knee.
Zervos assessed a right distal radius intra-articular comminuted fracture with extension into the sha...
The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the denial of a worker’s claim for a repetitive trauma injury.
Case: Brown v. Event Marketing Group, No. 2025-CA-1048-WC, 10/24/2025, unpublished.
Facts: Tia Brown was involved in two motor vehicle accidents in 2019 and suffered some neck pain due to whiplash.
In January 2022, Brown began working for Event Marketing Group. The company provided personnel to Club Demonstration Services, which had a contract with Costco to set up demonstrations of products and hand out food samples.
After about six months of working at Costco, Brown went to a ph...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a 10% permanent partial disability award for a worker’s knee injury.
Case: Collis v. Ecolab Inc., No. 25-ICA-168, 10/24/2025, published.
Facts: Brenna Collis worked for Ecolab Inc. She injured her right knee at work in January 2021.
Collis saw Dr. Joseph Cincinnati in November 2023. Cincinnati noted that Collis had a right artificial knee joint. He indicated that he saw little swelling and no effusion of Collis’ knee, and she had full extension and 120 degrees of flexion with no instability.
Cincinnati released Collis t...
Texas Mutual Insurance Co. announced that Prateek Sangal became its chief operating officer last month.
Sangal will oversee all insurance operations, including policyholder services, underwriting and premium audit for TMI, the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance.
Sangal began in data and analytics with Progressive and has held leadership roles at Farmers and CNA. He was most recently senior vice president and head of digital for North America property and casualty at AmTrust Financial Services.
Under his leadership, AmTrust's&...