In an apparent case of first impression, a Board panel granted an applicant’s petition to modify the terms in a previously approved Compromise and Release (C&R), to allow a change in the administration...
CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 88, No. 5 May 2023 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions...
By Hon. Susan V. Hamilton, Former Assistant Secretary and Deputy Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board In 2022 there were 7,490 wildfires in California. They burned 362,455 acres...
By Christopher Mahon Should temporary workers be treated separately under workers’ compensation law due to additional employment and income risks they may incur after workplace injuries? A new study...
Here's a noteworthy panel decision where a family member conveyed essential information to the AME on behalf of the injured employee. The Lexis headnote is below. CA - NOTEWORTHY PANEL DECISIONS...
Two Montana statutes that allow a workers’ compensation insurance carrier to have ex parte communications with claimant’s medical care providers represent an unconstitutional violation of claimant’s right to privacy, at least under the facts of the case before it, held the Montana Supreme Court. The carrier terminated claimant’s TPD benefits after claimant revoked various releases and authorizations she had previously signed allowing the insurer and its agents to have ex parte communications with claimant’s doctors. Observing that the “orderly administration” of workers’ compensation cases had been adequately effectuated for nearly 100 years without the necessity of ex parte communications, the court ruled that 2003 amendments to the Act were overly broad. The court did indicate, however, that a narrowly crafted release authorizing contact with healthcare providers solely for administrative purposes would not violate a claimant’s right of privacy.
Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.
LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.
See Malcomson v. Liberty Northwest, 2014 MT 242, 2014 Mont. LEXIS 508 (Sept. 10, 2014) [2014 Mont. LEXIS 506 (Sept. 10, 2014)]
See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 127.05 [127.05]
Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.
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