Utah Court Agrees that Leap from Truck Was Unusual
In another case involving Utah's so-called "Allen standard," under which an employee with a preexisting condition faces a heightened standard for proving legal causation, a state appellate court...
View ArticleOpinion Mondays: COVID-19 Presumptions Don't Stand Alone in the Workers' Comp...
Recently, I had an occasion to spar with a young reporter who was gathering background information on a COVID-19 piece that she’s preparing. She’s only been in the legal news “business” for a couple of...
View ArticleColorado Court: Pilot Not Engaged in Personal Deviation in Spite of Elevated...
A Colorado appellate court recently affirmed a decision by the state's Industrial Claim Appeals Office that found an airline pilot’s widow and children were entitled to survivor benefits after the...
View ArticleNY Board May Not Employ "Novel" Standard for Work-at-Home Injuries
In a decision that has important ramifications for other claims filed in the Empire State by employees working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a state appellate court reversed a decision by the...
View ArticleTexas Employee’s Suit Against Co-Worker for Dog Bite is Barred by Exclusivity
A defendant/co-worker’s act of bringing her dog to the employer’s residential facility for pregnant women to serve as a comfort animal was an activity that had to do with and originated in the...
View ArticleOregon Employee’s Slip and Fall Claim in “Annex Parking Area” Not Barred by...
Construing the “parking lot” exception to the standard going and coming rule, an Oregon appellate court affirmed an award of benefits to a dental hygienist who sustained injuries when she slipped and...
View ArticlePA Court Agrees Injuries Were Compensable under Personal Comfort Doctrine
Applying the personal comfort doctrine [see Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 21.01, et seq.], pursuant to which small, temporary departures from work to administer to personal comforts or...
View ArticleNJ Librarian’s Parking Lot Injuries When Struck by Snowplow are Compensable
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, reversing a decision of the Superior Court, Appellate Division [see 466 N.J. Super. 160, 245 A.3d 1019 (App. Div. 2021)], found that serious injuries...
View ArticleEstablishing “Personal Comfort” Activity Is Only Half the Battle, says OR Court
Stressing that the focus of the personal comfort doctrine was to determine if an employee’s actions occurred during the course of the employment, the Court of Appeals of Oregon held a workers’...
View ArticleColorado Court Says Injuries Sustained En Route to Medical Appointment Not...
Relying upon the “quasi-course of employment” concept set forth in Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 10.05, a division of the Court of Appeals of Colorado affirmed an order of the state’s...
View ArticleCommotio Cordis: Is Damar Hamlin’s Injury Compensable?
During the past ten days or so, I have discussed (via e-mail) the Damar Hamlin injury with several HR officials who serve as liaison between their respective employers and their employers’ comp...
View ArticleWest Virginia Court Agrees Fainting Spell for Waitress was Work-Related
West Virginia’s Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed a decision by the state’s Board of Review that found a waitress had sustained a compensable injury when she became overheated at her employer’s...
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