A Texas appellate court held the so-called “going and coming” rule in the workers’ compensation sphere could be utilized to bar recovery against an employer in a civil action that alleged the employer’s employee was negligent in... Read More

A Texas appellate court affirmed a trial court's decision granting summary judgment to an employer in a tort suit filed against it by a plaintiff-employee who alleged a co-employee brought a dog to work and the dog bit the plaintiff during the workday... Read More

A Texas injured employee's tort action against a non-subscribing employer arises out of common law--not from the Texas Workers' Compensation Act ("the Act")--held a federal district court sitting in the court's Western District.... Read More

In an opinion at odds with several earlier decisions from federal district courts, a divided Supreme Court of Texas held the state's general standard of fair and reasonable reimbursement, as applied to air ambulance services provided to workers who... Read More

The Supreme Court of Texas, providing a clear and exhaustive discussion of the state's special utilization of the so-called "substantially certain" standard to be utilized in intentional tort actions filed by employees against their employers... Read More

The Supreme Court of Texas held that a deputy sheriff fatal auto accident, as he traveled home in his assigned patrol car following an extra-duty assignment for a private employer, was nevertheless within the course and scope of the employment and his... Read More

Where an employer gratuitously provided a company vehicle to an employee to aid in his daily travel from his residence to a large tract of fenced ranch land containing a gas lease where the employee worked, it did not automatically bring the travel within... Read More

Reversing a decision of a federal district court that had ruled the retaliatory discharge provision of the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Act was preempted by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (“IRCA”), the Sixth Circuit... Read More

Holding that gross negligence, as described in the Texas statute that allows the family of a deceased worker to recovery exemplary damages if the workers’ death was caused by such gross negligence of the employer [see Tex. Lab. Code Ann. §... Read More

Construing the special exception to the Texas version of the exclusive remedy rule—that the survivors of an employee may maintain a wrongful death action against the employer if the employee's death was caused by an intentional act or omission... Read More

Under the Texas “access doctrine”—an exception to the going and coming rule—where the employer has evidenced an intention that the employee utilize a particular access route or area in going to and from work, and where that access... Read More

Affirming a decision of a federal district court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the United States could assert the exclusive-remedy provision of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act [Tex. Lab. Code § 408.001(a)] against... Read More

A oil-rig “floorman,” whose duties included assembling, cleaning, and disassembling blowout preventers and piping on oil rigs, was not a “seaman” under the Jones Act [46 U.S.C.S. §§ 30104-30105] since he failed to demonstrate... Read More

A Texas appellate court, construing Tex. Lab. Code Ann. § 408.008(1), that generally requires that in order for a heart attack to be compensable, it must be identified as having occurred at “a definite time and place” and must have been... Read More

Beginning January 1, 2012, the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) will begin its six month collection of data to assess insurance carriers for Performance Based Oversight (PBO). The PBO period will last until June 30, 2011. The PBO measures... Read More