Tag: Workers Comp

The Idaho Supreme Court Wednesday affirmed a decision to award workers compensation death benefits to a woman whose husband died from a stroke that she said was tied to workplace stress.

The court said Sue Jordan was entitled to receive benefits stemming from the death of her husband, Jeffrey Jordan, who worked in a Walmart tire department.

Mr. Jordan had been working overtime on Oct. 31, 2018, when he had to be rushed to the hospital after collapsing. He died two days later.

Ms. Jordan petitioned for workers comp death benefits, but Walmart moved to have her complaint dismissed on technical grounds, saying she failed to timely respond to discovery requests. That motion was denied.

A workers comp referee found that Mr. Jordan’s injury arose during the course of his employment and ruled for the spouse. The Idaho Industrial Commission upheld that decision.

Walmart appealed, contending the commission erred because Ms. Jordan didn’t meet her burden in establishing all elements for a comp claim.

One of Walmart’s arguments was that the case should have been dismissed because Ms. Jordan failed to meet certain court deadlines, but a workers comp referee gave her leeway because she filed the case without the help of a lawyer and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday that it cited an Ohio meat-processing company after a worker suffered severe leg burns and other injuries in a workplace accident in May.  

OSHA cited Washington Court House-based Sugar Creek Packing Co. for two repeat violations, six serious violations and one other-than-serious violation and proposed $277,904 in penalties.

The worker fell into corrosive chemicals while changing fan motor bearings on a machine used to sanitize and clean hanging meat racks.

OSHA said Sugar Creek Packing failed to ensure employees wore chemical-resistant clothing, failed to train workers on protective measures and avoiding chemical hazards, failed to properly train workers to service and maintain certain pieces of equipment, and failed to properly label chemical containers.

The agency cited the company for similar hazards in 2019 and 2022.

Sugar Creek Packing has 15 business days to contest the citation and proposed penalties.

Hawaii veterinary clinicians and staff bitten by dogs under their care cannot seek damages from pet owners for injuries because of a primary assumption of risk doctrine that relieves pet owners of liability once their animals are relinquished for medical care, a state appellate court ruled Tuesday.

The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals issued its ruling in Franks v. Holloway, which stemmed from a November 2014 incident in which a part-time kennel attendant on her third day of work was severely bitten by a dog who was taken in for treatment.

The worker, Shelby Rho Franks, needed surgery to treat her dog bite injuries.

Ms. Franks sued VCA Animal Hospitals Inc. and dog owner Paul Jason Spaulding for negligence in 2015. Mr. Spaulding petitioned for summary judgment in 2016, arguing veterinarians and their staff assume the risk of being bitten or otherwise injured by animals under their care.

A circuit court agreed with the dog owner and Ms. Franks challenged the case dismissal.

The appellate court affirmed the circuit court, ruling that the state’s Veterinarian’s Rule bars dog owners’ normal duty of care once their animals are under the care of clinicians, and that the plaintiffs in this case could not support a claim of negligence against Mr. Spaulding.  

 

Of the 29 claims filed by workers who say they were injured by vaccines from March 2020 through October 2023, 16 were denied by insurers, according to data released by the Nevada Workers’ Compensation Section.

Overall, the state saw 2,438 COVID-19-related claims during the pandemic, 62% of which were denied, according to data released in the Division of Industrial Relations Fall/Winter Edition newsletter. 

 

A lawsuit filed in Virginia following a work-related shooting at a Walmart has gotten past a workers compensation exclusive remedy defense, and experts say the case shows the changing legal landscape regarding workplace violence.

A Virginia judge ruled Nov. 15 that Briana Tyler, a store employee present during a shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake in November 2022, can move forward with her $50 million lawsuit alleging she was specifically targeted in the shooting. Ms. Tyler was not physically injured, as the assailant shot at her but missed.

The decision followed a similar ruling in another Virginia lawsuit involving a former elementary school teacher who was shot in a classroom by a 6-year-old student, who she alleges had a history of violence and reportedly told other students he had a gun in school on the day of the shooting. 

A judge on Nov. 3 allowed that $40 million suit to proceed despite the exclusive remedy defense argued by the Newport News Public School District, which is accused of ignoring concerns regarding the student.

Both cases are rare examples of lawsuits proceeding in cases typically governed by Virginia’s strong workers comp exclusivity provisions, experts say.

J.H. (Rip) Verkerke, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, said the state’s workers comp statute generally only allows a plaintiff to get past exclusivity if the injury stems from a sexual assault or sexual harassment, although there’s a longstanding doctrine permitting a tort suit if any assault is personal in nature.

“I was frankly a little surprised to see the judge rule that that particular assault was personal in nature,” Mr. Verkerke said of the classroom case.

The former teacher, Abigail Zwerner, was performing employment duties at the time she was shot, and it didn’t appear she and the child had any personal connection outside of the teacher-student relationship, he said. School board attorneys raised the same arguments.

In the Walmart case, Ms. Tyler’s lawyers argued the shooting was personal in nature, but Walmart disagreed, saying the fact that multiple victims were targeted in the mass shooting proves the matter should remain in workers comp.

“The grand bargain of workers comp contemplated industrial accidents and accidental injuries,” Mr. Verkerke said. “Violent assaults I don’t think were originally contemplated to be part of that.”

Some attorneys say claimants may have better success through workers comp than through litigation.

If the classroom case goes to trial and Ms. Zwerner loses, she stands to recover nothing, and even if she wins damages she would have to wait until the end of the legal proceedings to recover funds, said Anne Lahren, an attorney with Virginia Beach, Virginia-based law firm Pender & Coward P.C., which represents the Newport News School Board.

In comp, Ms. Zwerner would immediately be able to be paid for medical treatment, she said.

Virginia also provides injured workers up to 500 weeks of wage replacement, plus lifetime medical benefits, said Richard Matthews, a senior litigation partner with Pender & Coward who is also involved with defending the school board.

“That is a substantial benefit,” he said.

The school board attorneys are appealing the judge’s ruling in Ms. Zwerner’s case, reiterating their argument that the case belongs in workers comp. 

In a court filing, they wrote that the school board believes Ms. Zwerner is “entitled to receive workers compensation benefits for her workplace injury that undisputedly occurred during the course of her employment and do not want to see Plaintiff left with nothing at all if no action is taken until after the scheduled trial in January 2025.”

Furthermore, if Ms. Zwerner loses her lawsuit and then decides to petition for workers comp, it would be too late because her comp claim would be “forever barred” due to a statute of limitations, the attorneys wrote.

 

Commercial insurance premiums rose 8.1% on average in the third quarter, with property rates continuing to surge, but directors and officers liability insurance premiums and workers compensation rates fell, according to the latest report from the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.

According to the survey of CIAB members released last week, while rates continued to rise last quarter, the pace of rate hikes slowed from the average 8.9% for accounts that renewed in the second quarter. Medium-sized accounts saw the largest third-quarter average increase at 8.9%, down from 9.8% in the second quarter, while small accounts rose 7.9%, up from 7.2%, and large accounts increased 7.5%, down from 9.7%.

Commercial property continued to see the highest rates hikes among major lines, with premiums rising 17.1%, but down from 18.3% in the prior quarter; commercial auto rates rose 8.8%, down from 10.4%; umbrella rates increased 7.4%, down from 8.1%; general liability rates rose 4.2%, down from 5.2%; and workers compensation premiums fell 2%, compared with a 0.7% decrease.

Among other lines, D&O rates fell 0.3%, the first quarterly decrease reported by the CIAB survey since the start of the hard market in 2017, compared with a 1.6% increase in the second quarter; cyber liability rates were up 1.6%, compared with 3.6%; employment practices liability rates rose 1.8%, compared with 2.2%; and medical malpractice rates were up 2.8%, up a fraction from 2.7%.

While there were some delays for injured workers who needed surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Workers’ Compensation Research Institute study released Tuesday found no pattern of delays in access to emergency care and initial medical evaluations immediately following injuries.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institute studied variations in access to care in 2020 and 2021 when compared with time of care in the years prior to the pandemic.

Delays in care mostly involved access to surgeries and varied across states. WCRI found the delays depended on injury type, with greater delays for neurological spine pain than for fractures.

Researchers also suggested that the rise in telemedicine services during the pandemic may have helped prevent delays in care.  

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Monday that it cited a Wisconsin roofing contractor for repeat and safety violations after employees were exposed to fall hazards in May and June.

OSHA said it cited Suamico-based Overhead Solutions LLC for four repeat violations and one serious violation of federal fall protection standards and proposed $180,469 in penalties. The agency had cited the company for similar violations in 2022.

Inspectors observed roofers working 30 feet above ground without fall protection at a Menasha apartment complex in May. Less than two weeks later, inspectors discovered a similar lack of fall protection at a work site in Appleton.

The company has 15 business days to contest the citation and proposed penalties.

 

The New Jersey Commissioner of Banking and Insurance has approved a 3.9% decrease in rates and rating values applicable to New Jersey workers compensation insurance on new and renewal policies.

The approved rate change, effective Jan.1, 2024, is based on the latest financial and statistical data reported to the state Rating Bureau, which includes losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement issued by the commissioner. 

Also effective Jan. 1, the maximum weekly benefit for all types of injuries, except permanent partial disabilities, increases to $1,131, from $1,099, and the minimum weekly benefit rises to $302, from $293.

The weekly benefit range for permanent partial disability claims increases Jan. 1 to $302 and $1,131, depending on the duration of the disability, from the current $292 to $1,099.