CA - Appeals Court: WCAB Ignored Evidence in Finding Section 132a Violation
04/10/2026 | 0
In an unpublished decision, a California appeals court annulled a Workers' Compensation Appeals Board finding of violation as unsupported by evidence.
WCAB decisions must be supported by substantial evidence in light of the entire record, the 4th District Court of Appeal explained. The determination that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power did not carry its burden of establishing that it fired Jeanette France for poor job performance "is unreasonable because the WCAB ignored relevant evidence and mischaracterized the record," the court said.
France wo...
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A California appellate court upheld the attachment of a litigant’s bank account to enforce a judgment against him, finding he failed to prove that the account held the proceeds of a workers’ compensation claim that would be exempt from a levy.
Case: Elizabeth’s Food Co. Inc. v. Castro, No. B345269, 04/08/2026, unpublished.
Facts and procedural history: Elizabeth’s Food Co. Inc. filed suit against Alejandro Castro in November 2021.
A trial judge entered a default against Castro in November 2022, and in July 2023, the judge entered a default judgment against him. ...
A Florida appellate court ruled that workers’ compensation exclusivity did not shield an apartment complex management company from civil liability for injuries sustained by a pool maintenance contractor’s employee.
Case: Teed v. Everest Campus East LLC, No. 2D2025-0213, 04/08/2026, published.
Facts: Jackie Teed worked for Bay Guard Pool Services. Tampa SH1 Owner LLC contracted with Bay to maintain a swimming pool at the apartment complex it owned.
Teed suffered injuries while working at the pool. Afterward, he obtained benefits under Bay's workers' compens...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker should have been granted summary judgment on her Labor Law claim for a fall from a ladder.
Case: Serrano v. Athena Properties LLC, No. 814752/23, 03/19/2026, published.
Facts: Amber Serrano fell from a ladder while installing ductwork at a property owned by Athena Properties LLC.
Video footage of the accident showed that the ladder shifted and moved while Serrano was descending it, and that no other safety devices were made available to her.
Procedural history: Serrano filed suit against Athena, asserting claims for negligence and violati...
Congress, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Federal Trade Commission recently took historic action to rein in pricing abuses by PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers). New laws, rules and a massive civil settlement are all aimed at reducing drug prices that were inflated by certain pervasive PBM practices. But none of these much-needed reforms appear to apply to prices paid for drugs under workers’ compensation programs.
PBMs are intermediaries that control not only the administrative process of paying drug bills for their clients, but they also set up and control favored drug &ld...
A New York appellate court upheld a determination that an injured worker was a business's employee and that the company should have had workers’ compensation coverage for him, but the court said a penalty calculation was improper.
Case: Matter of Cortez v. Royal Stone Cabinet & Tile Inc., No. CV-24-1556, 03/19/2026, published.
Facts: Arturo Martinez Cortez filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that he suffered injuries on Christmas 2021 when he slipped and fell while carrying a large stone as he worked for Royal Stone Cabinet & T...
An Oklahoma judge on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order preventing CompSource Mutual Insurance Co. from mailing a reorganization notice to policyholders, according to a report by independent media outlet nondoc.com.
Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready in March approved a plan to transition CompSource into a mutual holding company structure, but it still requires support from two-thirds of the carrier's policyholders.
The workers' compensation carrier would become a stock insurer called CompSource Mutual Insurance Co. S.I. Its policyholders would become members of a newly ...
A California Senate committee passed a bill that would require staffing agencies to provide proof of workers' compensation coverage and register with the labor commissioner.
The Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement voted 3-1 to pass SB 1032, which would require staffing agencies to register before conducting any business in California, and annually thereafter.
Firms would be required to pay registration fees to be determined by the labor commissioner under a recent amendment to the bill. An earlier version would have imposed a flat $5,000 annual registration charge...
Oregon's SAIF Corp. on Thursday named Ian Williams interim president and CEO, succeeding current president and chief executive Chip Terhune, who is resigning.
Williams joined the SAIF leadership team as vice president of human resources in 2019 and became chief operating officer in 2021. He will assume the new role on Monday while the carrier searches for a permanent president and CEO.
“Ian has brought strong and thoughtful leadership to SAIF, is deeply engaged in our day-to-day operations and comes to this position with decades of executive experience," SAIF board chair T...
A divided Ohio appellate court ruled that the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation could not recoup temporary total disability benefits paid to a worker after she had reached maximum medical improvement.
Elizabeth Kurtz worked for CG-HHC LLC. She suffered injuries at work in April 2023. The Industrial Commission allowed her workers’ compensation claim for neck and back sprains and granted temporary total disability benefits.
In January 2024, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation requested termination of Kurtz's TTD, asserting that she had reached maximum medical impr...
The Montana Workers’ Compensation Court turned down reconsideration of a worker's denied request for penalties over a carrier’s late settlement payment.
Case: Simone v. Old Republic Insurance Co., No. PI-2025-0000776-WCI, 03/06/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: Scott Simone suffered injuries at work in December 2022. His employer had workers’ compensation coverage from Old Republic Insurance Co.
Simone and Old Republic entered into a settlement of his entitlement to benefits in April 2025. The settlement provided that Old Republic would pay ...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker should have been granted summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his fall from a ladder.
Case: Robles v. 53-63 Walton LLC, No. 24281/17, 03/17/2026, published.
Facts: Lenicio Robles allegedly suffered injuries when he fell from a ladder while working on a construction project.
Robles said he was given access to only one ladder, which he described as "loose" and lacking rubber feet; that all four feet of the ladder were on the floor; and that the ladder shifted while he used it.
Procedural history: Robles filed suit agai...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to only partial summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for a trip-and-fall accident.
Case: Lackenbauer v. 162 Fifth Avenue Associates LLC, No. 161333/18, 03/17/2026, published.
Facts: Eric Lackenbauer allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project when he tripped on a pile of materials and fell.
Procedural history: Lackenbauer filed suit against L&K Partners Inc., asserting a claim for a violation of Labor Law Section 241(6).
Section 241(6) imposes nondelegable duties on owners, general contractors and th...
NATL. - Networks Shift From Cost Tool to Care Driver in Workers' Comp
Medical provider networks are increasingly shaping how care is delivered, how disputes are avoided and how quickly injured employees recover, in addition to reducing costs in workers' compensation systems, according to industry experts.
A study released this month by Waltham, Massachusetts-based Workers Compensation Research Institute found that claims treated within networks had 26% lower total costs, faster access to care and shorter disability durations than out-of-network claims.
The findings reinforce long-held views that networks can control medical spending but also point to deepe...
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill giving nurse practitioners and physician associates the same treatment authority in the workers' compensation system as physicians and surgeons.
Kotek on Tuesday signed HB 4040, which expands the definition of "attending physician" to include nurse practitioners and physician associates.
Attending physicians provide direct care and create treatment plans for injured workers. They also determine whether a person is too injured to work and authorize time off, determine the date that a worker reaches maximum medical improvement, define function...
The California Division of Workers’ Compensation updated sections of the Official Medical Fee Schedule covering hospital departments and ambulatory surgical centers to conform to changes in the Medicare payment system.
The division said the order updating the hospital outpatient departments and ASC section of the fee schedule adopted:
The CMS Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System April 2026 “Addendum A” and “Addendum B.”
The CMS Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System, April 2026 ASC Approved HCPCS Code and Payment Rates — column A e...
