A Kentucky statute, Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 342.7305(2), which provides workers’ compensation benefits for occupational hearing loss only where a claimant’s binaural hearing impairment, converted to impairment of the whole person, results in impairment of more than...
Circumstances sometimes arise where justice requires that a party’s due process rights trump the inconvenience it may cause to a witness. Scheduling witness testimony is not an exact science, and often results in a minor and sometimes major inconvenience...
An Alabama Circuit Court Judge found unconstitutional two separate provisions of the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act—the $220 cap on weekly PPD benefits [Ala. Code § 25–5–68] and a 15 percent cap on attorneys’ fees [Ala. Code...
An employer and employee created an employment arrangement in New Jersey where the evidence indicated the employee, after filing an online application with a New York company, initially received a phone call at his home to arrange an employment interview at the...
Here’s the latest batch of advanced postings for the June 2016 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the case to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2016 LexisNexis. All rights reserved...
The Supreme Court of Florida, in a split decision, held that the mandatory attorney fee schedule contained in § 440.34, Fla. Stat., which precludes any consideration of whether the fee award is reasonable to compensate the attorney, is unconstitutional under...
In a split (7–2) decision, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma has struck down yet another provision of the state’s controversial 2013 “reform” of its workers’ compensation law. The provision, Okla. Stat. tit. 85A, § 45(C)(5), defers...
The Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission’s decision may ultimately have set up a collision between ERISA preemption and the Oklahoma State Constitution By Michael C. Duff, Assoc. Dean of Student Programs and External Relations, and Centennial Distinguished...
Shortly after the second Second District Court of Appeals provided the defense community with a welcome decision in Batten v. WCAB , the First Appellate District followed up with its much anticipated decision in Stevens v. WCAB , the first constitutional challenge...
The U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit has now handed a big win to the architects of the SB 863 reforms. The case is Angelotti Chiropractic et al v. Baker (see link to the opinion below). Angelotti was a constitutional challenge to the lien activation fee provisions...
In a split decision, the Court of Appeals of New Mexico held that N.M. Stat. Ann. § 52–1–6(A), which excludes from coverage “employers of … farm and ranch laborers,” violates workers’ rights to equal protection under Article II, Section 18 of the New Mexico Constitution...
All eyes are on Florida and the key challenges to its workers’ comp laws, including whether the “Grand Bargain” exists One year ago when the Foreword to the 2014 Edition of Dubreuil’s Florida Workers’ Compensation Handbook (LexisNexis...
A California appellate court has upheld the constitutionality of Labor Code § 3701.9, which generally prohibits temporary services employers (TSE's) and leasing employers (LE's) from self-insuring their workers’ compensation liability. Plaintiffs...
The California WCAB has issued several decisions recently on the topic of “due process.” The term “due process” is a phrase attorneys often fling about in court whenever they want to convey that something “unfair” has occurred...
How I spent my time at the National Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference discussing the exclusive remedy doctrine By Deborah G. Kohl, Esq. As all workers’ compensation practitioners know exclusive remedy is the linchpin of the “great...