On Friday (August 3, 2018), the Court of Appeals of Kansas held the use of the AMA Guides (6th Edition) for determining impairment levels of injured workers under the Kansas Workers’ Compensation Act (“the Act”) was unconstitutional... Read More

In a noteworthy panel decision, the WCAB in Taina v. County of Santa Clara/Valley Medical Center , 2018 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS --, affirmed the WCJ and held that the WCJ did not err by determining the level of permanent disability caused by applicant’s... Read More

Larson's Spotlight on Mental Injury, Jurisdiction, Disqualification for Benefits, Evidence of Disability, and Pain Impairment. Larson's surveys the latest case developments that you need to know about. Thomas A. Robinson, the staff writer for... Read More

Featured Case of the Week: Intoxication Defense Fails Despite "Presumptive Positive" Blood Test Beyette's Tree Care, Uninsured, Petitioner v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, Bart James Johnson , Respondents , 2011 Cal. Wrk. Comp... Read More

I reported on one of the pre-trial motions in this case in my post of 2/28/12 titled " Body of Evidence ". Interesting case about where an autopsy was performed on the down low in a case involving a catastrophic and posthumous claim for permanent... Read More

By Colleen S. Casey Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. The decision in Ogilvie v. WCAB (Ogilvie III) (2011) 76 CCC 624 created an increasing demand for the expertise of vocational rehabilitation (VR) experts. Parties... Read More

Lexis.com subscribers can link to the cases cited below. The AMA Guides generally disfavors grip loss as a measurement for rating a whole person impairment (WPI). (See AMA Guides Fifth Edition, page 508.) However, a series of recent WCAB panel decisions... Read More

New Clues on Applying an Ogilvie III Analysis in a DFEC Rebuttal Case In a recent panel decision of Dahl v. Contra Costa County (ADJ1310387) issued on May 18, 2012, the WCAB commissioners shed some light on how to apply an Ogilvie III analysis in a... Read More

Hopefully you are all back at your desk after an extended holiday. My daughters are pictured above enjoying the Rockwood Ice Cream Festival this past weekend. And ice cream is about all one claimant can hope for after a recent ruling disallowing her any... Read More

Featured Case of the Week: Rebuttal of AMA Guides Riverfront Apartments, Illinois Midwest Insurance Agency, on behalf of Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association Insurance Company, Petitioners v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, Jose Oliveira... Read More

NCCI has recently analyzed the impact of the AMA Guides Sixth Edition for three states that recently switched from the Fifth Edition to the Sixth Edition, finding a trend where substantial decreases in impairment ratings resulted. In Tennessee, impairment... Read More

Illustrating a point argued by many claimants’ attorneys—that the 6 th Edition of the AMA Guides provides for significantly lower levels of permanent partial impairment than did the 5 th Edition—the Supreme Court of Wyoming recently... Read More

By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. Whole person impairment ratings for sleep disorders in Table 13-4, and the instructions for use on page 317 of the AMA Guides Fifth Edition have created conflicting WCAB panel decisions on whether a sleep disorder can exist... Read More

By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. AMA’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment , Fifth Edition, Chapter 13 on the central and peripheral nervous system, is one of the most important chapters in the Guides for our purposes as workers’ compensation... Read More

Welcome! We've designed this resource center to help you locate Impairment Guides-related materials, here on the LexisNexis Workers' Compensation Law Community, the Internet, and lexis.com. Please be sure to check back often for new updates to... Read More