workers’ compensation News

Opinion from Out-of-State Disability Rating Experts Inadmissible in Kentucky

Dr. Christopher Brigham website is not making an overstatement when it describes him as “one of the nation’s leading authorities on impairment and disability evaluation and management.” Brigham is the senior contributing editor for the sixth edition of the American …

US Supreme Court Declines to Review Minn. Ruling on Marijuana Use in Workers Comp

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a pair of decisions by the Minnesota Supreme Court that held employers cannot be required to reimburse workers for marijuana used to treat on-the-job injuries because the substance is illegal under …

Claims Business: Insight Risk, ClaimBender and Latitude Subrogation

New MGA Peddling Water Loss Sensors A New York City-based managing general agent is bundling builders risk insurance policies with sensors to detect leaks and prevent water damage, a significant source of claims. Insight Risk said when a contractor buys …

Milliman: Black-Lung Liabilities Top $9 Billion as Coal Industry Shrinks

The U.S. coal industry may be shrinking rapidly as the country shifts to renewable energy, but insurers’ and self-insured companies’ liabilities for black-lung occupational disease claims have ballooned – to an estimated $9 billion and perhaps more than $14 billion. …

Iowa Supreme Reverses, Finds 911 Dispatcher’s PTSD Claim Compensable

The 911 dispatch center that employed Mandy Tripp denied her workers’ compensation claim for post-traumatic stress syndrome because fielding calls involving death and injury are part of the job. A divided Iowa Supreme Court rejected that reasoning on Friday, ruling …

4 Workers Hurt when Boston Subway Trains Collide

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston subway system continued to experience service disruptions on Thursday morning following a crash Wednesday night that sent four employees to the hospital, officials said. Both Green Line trains derailed in the crash at about 9:20 …

Okla. Supreme: Tort Reform Law Allows Lawsuit Against Employer

Jerry Harwood couldn’t collect workers’ compensation benefits after he was paralyzed when he was struck by a car while trying to cross US Route 66 after leaving his workplace. But a split decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday …

Utah Supreme: Appearance of Conflict Enough to Disqualify Medical Evaluator

Workers’ compensation claimants don’t have to prove that the physicians appointed to resolve medical disputes have an “actual bias” — the mere appearance of a conflict of interest is enough to disqualify them from evaluating a claim, the Utah Supreme …

Ohio Supreme Finds Ditch Diggers Misclassified as Independent Contractors

Ditch diggers who accepted work assignments online and used their own spades and shovels to do the work cannot be classified as independent contractors by a company that contracted with Time Warner Cable to install underground lines, a divided Ohio …

Sovereign Immunity No Defense in $3B Coal-Ash Lawsuit, 6th Circuit Rules

Sovereign immunity does not protect a federal contractor against a lawsuit filed by some 60 former employees seeking $3 billion in punitive damages for illnesses suffered after exposure to toxic coal ash during a clean-up project, a federal appellate court …