Reiterating that under N.Y. Work. Comp. Law § 15(7), apportionment for a pre-existing condition is allowed only where the preexisting condition was not the result of a compensable injury and the claimant was able to effectively perform his or her job duties at...
Where an Iowa employee worked concurrently for employer A (“A”) and employer B (“B”), sustained compensable permanent injuries while working for A, received a permanent impairment award from A and, after ceasing employment with A, suffered an additional work-related...
A New York appellate court held it was error to apportion an injured worker’s permanent disability based on medical testimony that 10 percent of the impairment was due to a 2009 work-related injury and that the rest was due to a 1981 work-related injury where the...
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...
The Supreme Court of Connecticut reiterated the general rule that an employer is ordinarily responsible for all the consequences of a compensable injury. Where an employee suffered from diabetic neuropathy that caused impairment to his arms and hands and subsequently...
As did a number of other states, South Carolina established a Second Injury Fund to encourage employers to hire disabled or handicapped persons. Generally, under the provisions of S.C. Code Ann. § 42-9-400, if an employer can show that the injured worker's...
Rejection of the Black Box Approach By Charles Edward Clark, Esq. 1 INTRODUCTION In the years since E.L. Yeager Construction v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (Gatten) (2006) 145 Cal.App.4th 922 [ 71 Cal.Comp.Cases 1687 ], apportionment analysis has been...
It was just another day on the job for claimant when she put on her raincoat and boots, pulled out her sprayer, and spent the day getting splattered with hog manure, afterbirth and hog waste material. In 2002 she felt sick and fatigued and was hospitalized, went...
A special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court of Tennessee has held that in cases involving pre-existing conditions, the law does not weigh the relative importance of the pre-existing condition and an employment-related cause, nor does it look...
The court of appeals affirmed an award of total disability benefits against the second injury fund benefits based in part on claimant's significant pre-existing psychiatric disabilities. Blackshear v Adecco , ED 100251 (Mo. App. 2014), 2014 MO App Lexis 157...
A worker wasn’t really disabled just because he had his leg amputated below the knee, according to an argument by the Second Injury Fund in a recent Missouri case. The Fund argued he didn’t have any prior disability because he was working and “just...
The Missouri Supreme Court has now spoken on what prior injuries "count" for purposes of accessing second injury fund benefits in Missouri worker's compensation cases in 4 new cases appealed last year by the Fund: Witte, Salviccio, Dyson and Buhlinger...
This list of recent noteworthy cases was compiled by Keith J. Kasper of McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Buchard, PC. VERMONT WORKERS’ COMPENSATION UPDATE Lisa Brassard, WC Specialist II has left the Department to work for another agency within...
The Supreme Court of Delaware recently affirmed a Superior Court order that in turn affirmed an Industrial Accident Board decision denying a police officer’s petition for compensation arising from an alleged work-related injury. The IAB and Superior Court found...
As is the case in a number of states, in Nebraska, if a workers' compensation case involves a preexisting condition, the claimant must prove that the claimed injury or disability was caused by the claimant's employment and that it was not merely the natural...