PA - Workers' Compensation Security Fund Not Subject to Assessment of Attorney Fees
02/24/2026 | 0
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the Workers’ Compensation Security Fund cannot be subjected to attorney fees because it does not fall within the statutory definition of an “insurer.”
Randall Parrish worked for Yeager Supply Inc. He suffered injuries at work in August 1998.
Ten years later, he entered into a compromise and release agreement with Yeager in which the company agreed to pay for all reasonable and necessary medical treatment concerning Parrish’s injury.
Yeager requested a review of the reasonableness and necessity of chiropracti...
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West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a 12% permanent partial disability award to a worker for his loss of grip strength due to a compensable injury.
Case: Alliance Coal LLC v. Carte, No. 25-ICA-284, 02/03/2026, published.
Facts: Ashley Carte worked for Alliance Coal LLC as an underground fire boss. He injured his arm at work in May 2022, but he did not seek medical treatment until October 2022 because he had thought his injury would resolve on its own.
Carte then filed a workers’ compensation claim for a left biceps strain/tear.
In November 2022, Dr. Michael D. ...
A New York appellate court upheld the establishment of a worker’s occupational disease claim for her elbows.
Case: Matter of Moe v. America Ootoya Chelsea, No. CV-24-0962, 02/05/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: Than Moe worked for America Ootoya Chelsea as a line cook. She filed a workers’ compensation claim in December 2022, asserting that she had sustained injuries to her elbows resulting from her employment duties.
The Workers' Compensation Board assembled the claim and sent a notice that it was indexed to the parties of interest, including America&rsqu...
The Georgia Supreme Court this month disbarred a claimants’ attorney who forged his clients’ signatures on checks and stole $159,615 in proceeds for his own purposes.
Bryan Matthew Pritchett failed to participate in the disciplinary proceedings, so he was deemed to have admitted the factual allegations and disciplinary violations charged.
He was primarily represented injured workers in workers’ compensation cases. In three cases, Pritchett received checks made out to his clients. He forged their signatures, deposited the proceeds into his personal or business accounts, and ...
Who hasn’t experienced working so hard to get the case settled, only to have it held up by applicants' attorneys raising the issue of “unpaid” Labor Code Section 5710 fees?
Do you ever tire of receiving that standard bill from that one law firm demanding over $3,000 for taking a deposition that wasn’t out of the ordinary?
Take heart, my weary friends on the defendants' side of the aisle, as the Division of Workers' Compensation has now proposed a pathway to eliminate these frustrations in large part from our practice. Yet, there is still more...
State Compensation Insurance Fund president and CEO Vern Steiner is among the handful of California state executives earning more than $1 million a year, according to a report by the Sacramento Bee.
The newspaper reports that a spokesperson said the carrier's board of directors determines the president's salary based on several factors, including an analysis of salaries offered to chief executives for comparable insurance and financial services companies. The latest study found that Steiner's salary was below the 25th percentile, according to the Bee.
The spokesperson also sa...
The California Department of Insurance on Monday announced that people associated with two vocational schools, and the chief executive of one of the largest vocational counseling centers in the state, are facing dozens of felonies for alleged Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit voucher fraud.
The department said Hazel Ortega, 54, Gemi Bertran, 54, and Elbert Irving, 41, were arraigned on 31 felony counts for allegedly orchestrating a kickback and forgery scheme.
The SJDB voucher program helps pay for retraining and some tools for workers with a permanent disability who have not been offere...
NV - Loss Costs Increasing 21.6%
The Nevada Division of Insurance has approved a 21.6% increase in workers' compensation loss costs, effective March 1, according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
The change reflects Nevada-specific cost pressures rather than a broader market shift, the NCCI said in a statement. The Nevada Department of Insurance did not respond to requests for comment.
“Nevada’s experience is unique, shaped by a combination of elevated large losses, flattening claim frequency, rising claim severity and a payroll limitation that adds pressure on loss ratios during pe...
A bill introduced in West Virginia on Monday would adopt a nearly 40-year-old federal standard for determining whether a worker is an employee or a contractor.
SB 1073 would repeal state-specific statutes that require a person to sign a written contract, retain control over the final result of the work and satisfy other criteria to be classified as an independent contractor.
The bill would declare that the classification of all workers shall be determined by the test set forth in Internal Revenue Service Revenue Ruling 87-41, or subsequent regulations.
The IRS ruling from 1987 identifi...
Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would revise how temporary and permanent disability benefits are calculated.
Currently, benefits are equal to two-thirds of an injured worker's wage and capped at 133% of the state's average weekly wage. Injured workers must receive at least 90% of their weekly wage or $50 a week, whichever is less.
SB 1519 would replace that with a tiered structure for both temporary and permanent disability benefits.
"A worker would receive 75% of the portion of their wages that is equal to or less than 75% of their average weekly wage; this portio...
A divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a determination that triable issues precluded summary judgment on a worker’s tort suit for his injuries from a skid loader accident against the owner of the machine, who was also a co-employee.
John Brown suffered injuries in September 2016 on his first day of work with American Concrete Solutions Inc.
The accident occurred when the arm of a skid loader caught Brown’s body, crushing him between the top of the cab and the arm of the bucket.
The skid loader was owned by George Gaydos, who operated a sole proprietorship under the name Gay...
A New York appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a Labor Law action by an individual who fell from a pallet rack while retrieving personal belongings from a warehouse leased by his brother-in-law’s company.
Case: Barbu v. Doyle, No. 2023-01678, 02/04/2026, published.
Facts: Mark Barbu allegedly suffered injuries in March 2017 when he fell from a pallet rack inside a warehouse.
The building was owned by Connan Land Co. LLC and leased by Par 4 Property Management LLC. Par 4 was owned by Barbu’s brother-in-law, Kenneth Doyle.
According to Barbu, on the date o...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals overturned a denial of benefits for a nurse injured in a fall in her employer’s parking lot as she was returning from her lunch break.
Case: Perrine v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services, No. 25-ICA-232, 02/03/2026, published.
Facts: Lisa Perrine worked for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services as a nurse. She went to the hospital in June 2024 and reported left wrist pain after a fall.
X-rays showed a distal radius fracture and a distal end of ulnar fracture.
Perrine filed a workers&r...
The Arkansas Court of Appeals upheld the denial of benefits to a worker who failed to present evidence of a compensable injury supported by objective findings after a workplace fall.
Case: Coleman v. Youth Home Inc., No. CV-25-212, 02/04/2026, published.
Facts: Diana Coleman worked for Youth Home Inc. as a residential treatment counselor. She fell at work on June 19, 2023, while trying to restrain a patient.
Coleman did not report the injury to Youth Home until June 26, 2023. She then underwent X-rays of her knee and hip, which showed no acute fracture, dislocation or osseous lesions.
Dr. ...
Legislation introduced in Georgia would increase temporary disability and death benefits and revise the process for reinstating benefits when an effort to return an injured worker to employment fails.
HB 1355 would increase the maximum temporary total disability benefit to $900 per week from $800, and it would increase the maximum temporary partial disability benefit to $600 from $533. The bill would also increase the cap on death benefits to $360,000 from $320,000, and it would increase the burial benefit to a maximum of $10,000 from $7,500.
The bill would also modify the process for reinst...
Connecticut lawmakers introduced bills that would expand conditions triggering workers' compensation coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder and require a study of the state's system.
Lawmakers in 2019 enacted a measure allowing first responders to file PTSD claims for specific incidents, including seeing a dead child or witnessing a traumatic physical injury. In 2023, they passed a law allowing all workers who experience a qualifying event to receive PTSD benefits.
HB 5279 would expand the list of qualifying events to include witnessing a serious physical injury that does not re...
