Issue Commentary: Courts Are Mixed in Deciding Compensability of COVID-19 Without Aid of Presumptions

NY Claimant Entitled to Marked Permanent Disability Award Instead of SLU Award

Construing the N.Y. Workers’ Compensation Guidelines for Determining Impairment, a state appellate court affirmed a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Board that held an injured employee’s foot injury was not...

Ohio Court Affirms Finding that Furnace Worker’s COVID-19 Was Not Compensable

Finding that a furnace worker had failed to establish the necessary third prong in the definition of occupational diseases—that his employment created a risk of contracting the disease (here, COVID-19)...

Florida JCC Errs in Failing to Appoint EMA to Resolve Medical Dispute

Where a Florida workers’ compensation claimant disagreed with the medical opinion of the employer/carrier’s authorized physician, sought a one-time change in physicians pursuant to § 440.13(2)(f), Fla. Stat., saw a...

NY Court Bars IME Physician’s Testimony on Strict Procedural Grounds

A recent decision from the Empire State, Matter of Keller v. Cumberland Farms, 2019 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9113 (3d Dept. Dec. 19, 2019), illustrates a point sometimes lost on...

NM Supreme Court Applies IME Statute to Death Benefit Cases

In a well-expressed opinion that illustrates how an appellate court is sometimes required to construe an ambiguous statute, the Supreme Court of New Mexico held that while there was no...

MS Worker’s Staph Infection Was Causally Connected to Epidural Injections for Back Injury

Stressing that the weighing of expert medical evidence is the province of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission—and not the appellate courts—the Court of Appeals of Mississippi affirmed a decision awarding...