A Texas appellate court held the so-called “going and coming” rule in the workers’ compensation sphere could be utilized to bar recovery against an employer in a civil action that alleged the employer’s employee was negligent in the operation...
A Texas appellate court affirmed a trial court's decision granting summary judgment to an employer in a tort suit filed against it by a plaintiff-employee who alleged a co-employee brought a dog to work and the dog bit the plaintiff during the workday. The...
Stressing the importance of expert medical testimony in establishing a connection between cancer and the work environment, an appellate court in Texas affirmed a trial court's order granting a former employer summary judgment in a case in which the former employee...
A Texas injured employee's tort action against a non-subscribing employer arises out of common law--not from the Texas Workers' Compensation Act ("the Act")--held a federal district court sitting in the court's Western District. Accordingly...
In an opinion at odds with several earlier decisions from federal district courts, a divided Supreme Court of Texas held the state's general standard of fair and reasonable reimbursement, as applied to air ambulance services provided to workers who sustain...
The Supreme Court of Texas, providing a clear and exhaustive discussion of the state's special utilization of the so-called "substantially certain" standard to be utilized in intentional tort actions filed by employees against their employers, held...
The Supreme Court of Texas held that a deputy sheriff fatal auto accident, as he traveled home in his assigned patrol car following an extra-duty assignment for a private employer, was nevertheless within the course and scope of the employment and his survivors...
Where an employer gratuitously provided a company vehicle to an employee to aid in his daily travel from his residence to a large tract of fenced ranch land containing a gas lease where the employee worked, it did not automatically bring the travel within the course...
Reversing a decision of a federal district court that had ruled the retaliatory discharge provision of the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Act was preempted by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (“IRCA”), the Sixth Circuit Court of...
Holding that gross negligence, as described in the Texas statute that allows the family of a deceased worker to recovery exemplary damages if the workers’ death was caused by such gross negligence of the employer [see Tex. Lab. Code Ann. § 408.001(b...
Construing the special exception to the Texas version of the exclusive remedy rule—that the survivors of an employee may maintain a wrongful death action against the employer if the employee's death was caused by an intentional act or omission of the...
Under the Texas “access doctrine”—an exception to the going and coming rule—where the employer has evidenced an intention that the employee utilize a particular access route or area in going to and from work, and where that access route...
Where an employer paid a “field electrician” a weekly stipend of $75, but neither (a) required the employee to keep records regarding travel expenses nor (b) required the additional payment to be spent for travel, the employee would not be considered...
A Texas appellate court affirmed a summary judgment order favoring the employer in a retaliatory discharge action under Tex. Lab. Code Ann. § 451.001(1). Although the superintendent and others were aware that the employee had been injured, none was aware that...
This article surveys recent legal trends in the states of Maryland, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin as explained by our workers’ compensation experts below. MARYLAND: Four of the hottest topics in Maryland are as follows: 1. Opioid use and...