Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

New York: 19-Month Delay in Seeking Treatment, Coupled with Inadequate Medical Evidence Supports Board’s Denial of Benefits
Posted on 1 Jan 2022 by Thomas A. Robinson

Substantial evidence supported a decision by New York’s Workers’ Compensation Board that denied benefits to a claims examiner who contended she suffered a shoulder injury in a work-related fall at her office where she waited 19 months before... Read More

New York: Ex Parte Communications Result in Denial of Death Benefits Claim
Posted on 3 Aug 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

A WCLJ’s decision to give no weight to medical opinions offered by two medical experts—an independent medical examiner and the deceased employee’s treating physician—because both experts had entered into significant ex parte contact... Read More

Pennsylvania: 18 Months of Home Remedies Do Not Constitute Medical Treatment
Posted on 28 Jul 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where an employer’s examining physician opined that the workers’ compensation claimant had fully recovered from her injuries—the physician based his opinion, in large part, on the fact that claimant had not sought medical treatment from... Read More

New York: No Recovery for Claimed Lyme Disease Claim
Posted on 28 Jul 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

A safety and security officer, who filed a claim seeking to recover workers’ compensation benefits for alleged Lyme disease almost six years after he filed a report with his employer indicating he had suffered two tick bites, failed to establish... Read More

New York: Decision Must be Limited to Issue Actually Before WCLJ
Posted on 22 May 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

A finding by New York’s Workers’ Compensation Board that surgery related to an injured employee’s back condition should not be approved was error, held a state appellate court, where the Board’s decision (affirming that of a WCLJ... Read More

Colorado: Physicians Have Flexibility in Setting Impairment Ratings, AMA Guides Are “Starting Point”
Posted on 11 Apr 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Construing Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 101(3)(a)(I) and 101(3.7), pursuant to which impairment ratings in workers’ compensation claims must be “based on” the revised third edition of AMA Guides, a Colorado appellate court said... Read More

Mississippi: Benefits Awarded in Spite of Cautious Medical Testimony
Posted on 7 Mar 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

An award of benefits for an employee’s stress fracture in her right foot was appropriate, held a Mississippi appellate court, in spite of the fact that her physician had testified that the employee’s repetitive activity at work was a “possible”... Read More

Arkansas: Court Clarifies What is Meant by “Objective Medical Findings”
Posted on 7 Mar 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

In Arkansas, a workers’ compensation claimant must ordinarily establish his or her injury claim with medical evidence “supported by objective findings” [see Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(D) (Supp. 2019)]. Acknowledging that requirement... Read More

Ohio: “Eggshell Theory” Instruction Ok’d For Trial Court Hearing Appeal of Comp Award
Posted on 24 Jan 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

In a trial court proceeding following an employer's appeal of award of benefits awarded by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, it was appropriate to instruct the jury on the so-called "eggshell" theory of medical causation since... Read More

Kansas: 6th Edition of AMA Guides to Impairment Passes Constitutional Muster
Posted on 19 Jan 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

The language in Kan. Stat. Ann. 2019 Supp. § 44-510e(a)(2)(B) requiring use of the 6th Edition of the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment should reasonably be interpreted as a "guideline,"... Read More

Texas: Internet Research Insufficient to Show Plaintiff's Cancer Was Tied to Work-place Conditions
Posted on 9 Dec 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

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... Read More

New York: Equivocal Medical Testimony Sinks Claim for Myocardial Infarction
Posted on 21 Nov 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

A New York appellate court held sufficient evidence supported the Board's determination that a worker's myocardial infarction was not causally connected to his employment, where the worker's expert opined that it was "possible" that... Read More

New York: Board's Abandonment of Labor Market Decision Affirmed in Spite of Medical Evidence of Disability
Posted on 26 Oct 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

Stressing that the issue of abandonment of the labor market is an issue for the Board, a New York appellate court affirmed the denial of disability benefits to a worker who sustained a clearly compensable injury--she was struck by falling scaffolding... Read More

New York: Medical Evidence Must Show More than Possible Connection Between Injury and Employment
Posted on 18 Oct 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where claimant's physician testified that it was "difficult to determine" when claimant's meniscus tear occurred and that there was "a strong possibility" that something which happened at work could have exacerbated claimant's... Read More

Tennessee: Party's Presentation of Medical Evidence that Disagrees with IME Physician's Opinion is Insufficient to Rebut Presumption of Correctness
Posted on 27 Aug 2020 by Thomas A. Robinson

Acknowledging that the statutory presumption of correctness afforded the opinion of an independent medical evaluator who had been selected from Tennessee's Medical Impairment Registry ("MIR") could be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence... Read More