MS - Divided Court Upholds PTSD Award for Cop Allegedly Set Up for Assault
05/10/2024 | 0
A divided Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld an award of permanent disability benefits to a former police officer who was beaten while responding to a call that she believed to have been set up by the chief of police.
Stephanie Moffett was a police officer for the City of Verona. She was the only female in the department.
On Feb. 27, 2017, Moffett was dispatched to handle a domestic dispute at an apartment building.
When she arrived, she saw Sylvester Sykes, who had previously assaulted her while she was on duty. Sykes threw what appeared to be crack cocaine on the floor and announced that...
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A Florida appellate court overturned an award for attendant care provided by a worker’s husband, finding that the judge failed to determine which services qualified as compensable.
Case: Girardin v. AN Fort Myers Imports LLC, No. 1D2022-1485, 05/08/2024, published.
Facts: Kelly Girardin worked for AN Fort Myers Imports LLC as a sales associate. She fractured her left foot while walking through her employer’s parking lot in December 2020.
AN accepted liability for the injury, as well as her complex regional pain syndrome.
Procedural history: Girardin sought paymen...
A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim for his injuries from trying to prevent an air conditioning coil unit from falling.
Case: Britt v. Levgar Equities Corp., No. 30587/19, 05/07/2024, published.
Facts: Chauncey Britt suffered an electric shock while attempting to install an air conditioning coil unit at a property owned by Levgar Equities Corp. and NB Net Solutions 41 Inc.
When the power to the unit was cut off, it fell on Britt’s knees. He injured his back and arm trying to pull the unit upward to preve...
A divided West Virginia Supreme Court upheld the denial of a worker’s request to expand the scope of his claim.
Case: Parker v. Spartan Mining Co., No. 22-603, 05/07/2024, published.
Facts and procedural history: Joseph Parker worked for Spartan Mining Co. He allegedly injured his back at work in a rock fall in October 2017.
A lumbar computed tomography scan performed about a week later revealed degenerative disc disease with spondylosis and mild scoliosis. A thoracic CT scan showed old, stable compression deformities from T8-T10.
A claims administrator for Spartan’s insurance ...
Long before analyzing the 2024 workers' comp telemedicine markets, and years before COVID-19 caused an instant explosion of telehealth appointments, I was looking for technology.
I discovered a teledoc vendor. You can read an article I wrote in 2015 on workers' comp telemedicine.
The process made sense for minor injuries even in 2015. I wrote an associated article that was met with skepticism concerning telehealth appointments for workers' comp.
Two more recent articles or webpages on 2024 workers' comp telemedicine came from Conce...
NATL. - WCRI: Work Accidents Increase With Excessive Heat
The probability of work-related accidents increases 5% to 6% when temperatures rise above 90 degrees, and the effect of workplace heat is stronger in the southern U.S. and in the construction industry, according to a report released Thursday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.
The report, “Impact of Excessive Heat on the Frequency of Work-Related Injuries,” used workers' compensation claim data from 2016 to 2021 across 24 states.
Researchers looked at work injuries caused by direct and indirect heat exposure. Direct heat exposure involves the effect of heat on a w...
A California man pleaded no contest last week to felony insurance fraud and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said Christopher Dangelo Green claimed to have been injured while working on a road paving crew, though there were no witnesses to his accident. He gave inconsistent reports to his employer, doctor and insurance company, the DA's Office said.
Additionally, two co-workers said Green hoped to be injured in a "freak accident" at work and that he asked them to hit him with a vehicle because he needed mon...
Lawmakers in New Jersey on Monday read through the latest version of carryover legislation from 2023 that would create a heat standard for workers, calling on businesses to provide water, breaks and shade for those working in high temperatures.
SB 2422, which was referred to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, calls on the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to create and enforce rules for employers on or before June 1, 2025.
In addition to providing water and shade, the rules would include regular heat monitoring, paid breaks and heat acclimatization practice...
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday announced that it has moved closer to publishing a proposed rule to offer greater workplace heat protection to employees in outdoor and indoor settings.
OSHA said it presented a draft rule during an April meeting of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health.
The committee subsequently recommended that the agency move forward with an expedited notice of proposed rulemaking.
“OSHA is working aggressively to develop a new regulation that keeps workers safe from the dangers of heat,” Assistant OS...
LOS ANGELES, April 22, 2024 - Sullivan on Comp, the leading comprehensive digital resource on California workers' compensation law, proudly announces the launch of ChatSOC, an advanced chatbot designed to streamline workers' compensation inquiries for professionals in the field. Officially launching today, ChatSOC integrates directly with the Sullivan on Comp digital treatise, provid...
A divided West Virginia Supreme Court upheld the denial of benefits to a longtime paint technician on his claim that he developed Parkinson’s disease because of his industrial chemical exposure.
Gregory Gwinn worked as a paint technician for various automobile dealerships from 1992 until Feb. 13, 2018.
Gwinn complained of neurological issues and sought treatment with Dr. Barry Vaught in 2010. Vaught noted that Gwinn had trouble with head movements, and other neurological symptoms, beginning at age 7 and increasing in frequency since.
Vaught said the results of a neurological exam...
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld the denial of benefits for a worker’s testicular injury, finding he failed to carry his burden to show that his injury was causally connected to his work.
Case: Rosario v. Westport Axle Co. LLC (WCAB), No. 624 C.D. 2023, 05/06/2024, unpublished.
Facts: Ruddy Rosario worked for Westport Axle Co. LLC. On March 19, 2021, he used a hammer to loosen a piece from a rack. After the piece came loose, Rosario’s left testicle allegedly began to hurt. Although nothing came into contact with the testicle, Rosario reported significant pain.
Rosar...
A federal appellate court upheld an award of Black Lung Benefits Act compensation to a longtime coal miner.
Case: Dominion Coal Corp. v. Clark, No. 22-1858, 05/01/2024, unpublished.
Facts: James R. Clark spent 34 years working in coal mines. He filed a claim for compensation under the Black Lung Benefits Act and supported it with the opinion of Dr. Vishal Raj.
Procedural history: An administrative law judge relied on Raj’s opinion and a statutory presumption to find that Clark was totally disabled and entitled to compensation under the Black Lung Benefits Act. Dominion Coal Corp....
The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the summary dismissal of a former municipal worker’s claims of retaliatory discharge.
Case: Creger v. City of Cambridge, No. A23-1017, 05/06/2024, unpublished.
Facts: Billy Creger began working for the City of Cambridge in January 2021. He was subject to a 12-month evaluation period, during which time he could be discharged at the sole discretion of the city.
In April 2021, Creger and another city employee were sitting in a city-owned vehicle. Creger alleged that the other employee lit a cigarette and continued to smoke after Creger asked the...
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that it cited a supply-chain transportation company after a worker was hospitalized for serious injuries from being struck by a semi-tractor-trailer at a Nebraska grain yard.
OSHA cited Latham, New York-based Rail Modal Group LLC for 21 serious and two other-than-serious violations and proposed $261,375 in penalties over a November 2023 incident at a grain facility in Fremont in which a yard manager was directing congested traffic in a storage yard when she was struck by a passing truck.
OSHA cited the company over...
SAN DIEGO — Missed medical appointments due to lack of transportation, late-reported claims over fears of job and income loss, and language barriers are all pegged as factors that can delay workers' compensation claims progression, according to experts.
By examining so-called social determinants of health and considering such factors as workplace demographics, culture and geography, employers and claims handlers can gain insights into what may be needed to help claims along, said speakers Tuesday at Riskworld, the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.’s annual ...
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has released its Quarterly Experience Report to update statewide insurer experience measured as of Dec. 31, 2023.
Some highlights:
Written premium in 2023 is slightly higher than in 2022 and about the same as the pre-pandemic level.
The average charged rate for 2023 is 5% lower than 2022 and the lowest in decades.
The projected combined ratio for accident year 2023 is 2 points higher than in 2022 and is the fourth consecutive year above 100 percent.
The full report can be seen he...