Where a South Carolina law firm negotiated a mediated $120,000 settlement on behalf of an injured worker, was fired one day after the successful mediation, and sent as many as four communications to the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission... Read More

Vacating its earlier decision (reported at 187 A.D.3d 1297, 132 N.Y.S.3d 454 (2020), in which the New York appellate court had held the Board did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorney’s fees of $1,000, instead of the $52,000 amount originally... Read More

The Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission should not have entered an order that required an employer/carrier to pay $4,000 in attorney's fees as a section for appealing an ALJ's order requiring the employer to pay for the replacement... Read More

The New York Workers' Compensation Board acted within its discretion when it awarded counsel fees of $1,000, instead of the $52,000 requested in a memorandum of law filed with the Board, held a state appellate court. The appellate court noted that... Read More

Observing that the issue of whether an employer had reasonably contested a claim was a question of law fully reviewable by the appellate court, a Pennsylvania appellate court reversed a decision of the Appeals Board that rule an employer's contest... Read More

A Louisiana appellate court affirmed a WCJ's finding that an employer had not reasonably controverted a claim in spite of the employer's evidence that the injured worker had a preexisting co-morbid condition -- a congenital single kidney -- that... Read More

Where an injured employee sustained a laceration over the eye -- a condition admitted by the employer -- and later sought reinstatement of his disability benefits, the burden was on the employee to establish his entitlement to benefits based on an actual... Read More

The 30-day “grace” period found in § 440.34(3)(b), Fla. Stat., which allows an employer/carrier to avoid the imposition of attorney fees if the the employer/carrier either accepts the claim or provides the requested benefits within 30... Read More

A New York appellate court affirmed a Board decision reducing an attorney’s requested $18,000 fee to $8,000 in spite of the attorney’s contention that 15 percent of the amount awarded to an injured employee was the “customary”... Read More

A New Jersey appellate court affirmed a final judgment entered by the Division of Workers’ Compensation awarding fees to counsel for the surviving spouse of a worker who succumbed to an occupational disease based on the surviving spouse’s... Read More

With regard to a claim filed under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (the Act), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals , in a decision not designated for publication, held that it was within the discretion of the Benefits Review Board... Read More

A workers' compensation judge erred as a matter of law by declining to apply the mandatory fee-shifting provision set forth in N.M. Stat. Ann. § 52-1-54(F)(4)(2003)(amended 2013), because the worker made a valid offer under N.M. Stat. Ann. §... Read More

In a workers' compensation dispute where two employers denied liability and the employee was drawn into the litigation, the employee was entitled to attorney fees under Minn. Stat. § 176.191, held the Supreme Court of Minnesota. Here, the employee... Read More

The Court of Appeals of Kansas held that attorneys representing claimants at the appellate court level in the state fall between the cracks when it comes to awards of attorney’s fees, even when successfully representing their clients. Citing Rogers... Read More

By Colleen S. Casey Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved. Listed below are several issues to consider before submitting a document for approval by a workers’ compensation judge (WCJ). Walk Through Document Defined: A “walk... Read More