Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

New Hampshire: Death from Drug Overdose Found Not Compensable
Posted on 14 Sep 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

A decision denying death benefits to the surviving spouse of a New Hampshire worker who died from an overdose of oxycodone and heroin was affirmed by the state’s Supreme Court. The worker, who suffered a serious ankle fracture as a result of a work... Read More

Injured Worker’s Death Due to Overdose of Medication: Breaking the Chain of Causation
Posted on 12 Apr 2017 by LexisNexis Workers' Comp Law Newsroom Staff

Key takeaways from a recent Tennessee case for both injured workers and employers When do an injured worker’s actions, which led to a tragic overdose of opioids in the Kilburn case, constitute an independent intervening cause and thereby release... Read More

Vicodin Overdose, "Ogilboeuf", Same Sex Domestic Partner: Cal. Comp. Cases December Advanced Postings (12/22/2013)
Posted on 22 Dec 2013 by California Compensation Cases Staff

Here’s the latest batch of advanced postings for the December 2013 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the case to read the complete headnotes and summaries . © Copyright 2013 LexisNexis. All... Read More

Tennessee: Injured Worker’s Death Due to Overdose Was Not Compensable
Posted on 14 Apr 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

Reversing a decision of a state chancery court that had found an injured worker’s death due to acute oxycodone overdose, coupled with alcohol use, to be compensable, the Supreme Court of Tennessee held that the actions of the worker, in taking more... Read More

California Supreme Court Rules “Some Contribution” to Causation in Death Case Sufficient for Liability
Posted on 28 May 2015 by Richard M. Jacobsmeyer

The California Supreme Court has reversed a Court of Appeal decision which had in turn reversed a W.C.A.B. award of dependency benefits in South Coast Framing v. W.C.A.B. (Clark) .The Supreme Court decision reinstates the W.C.A.B. award of dependency... Read More

California: South Coast Framing
Posted on 29 May 2015 by Julius Young

The recent California Supreme Court case, South Coast Framing Inc. v. WCAB (Jovelyn Clark) clarifies the standard of causation in a workers’ comp death case. In day to day workers’ comp practice the decision will probably be helpful to... Read More

North Carolina: Worker’s Death from Accidental Overdose of Narcotics is Compensable
Posted on 6 Oct 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina affirmed an award, inter alia, of death benefits to dependents of an injured employee who suffered a compensable back injury in June 2010 and died some four years later, as a result of... Read More

Opiates, Up Close and Personal
Posted on 16 Jan 2012 by Robert G. Rassp, Esq.

By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. I lost a friend recently. He had an “accidental” overdose of fentanyl. He was 53 years old. He graduated with honors from Harvard Medical School and became a skilled plastic surgeon with a fellowship in hand surgery... Read More

Opiates, Up Close and Personal
Posted on 16 Jan 2012 by Robert G. Rassp, Esq.

By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. I lost a friend recently. He had an “accidental” overdose of fentanyl. He was 53 years old. He graduated with honors from Harvard Medical School and became a skilled plastic surgeon with a fellowship in hand surgery... Read More