In Renner v. AT&T (A-71-11) (068744), the petitioner was a telecommuting employee permitted to work from her home three (3) days a week. She worked for AT&T for 25 years. On September 24, 2007, the petitioner was working on a project through the...
In Renner v. AT&T (A-71-11) (068744), the petitioner was a telecommuting employee permitted to work from her home three (3) days a week. She worked for AT&T for 25 years. On September 24, 2007, the petitioner was working on a project through the...
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, an employer’s liability to an employee, legal representative, husband or wife, parents, dependents, next of kin, or anyone otherwise entitled to damages for injuries suffered by an employee in the...
For those who deal in workers’ compensation matters, it is generally thought that a person who is injured while traveling to or from work is not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Indeed, this is normally the case. A recent Pennsylvania...
Simply by being in the workers’ compensation arena allows most everyone involved to have a general understanding of maximum medical improvement (MMI). In Pennsylvania, MMI does not hold as much weight as it does in other states because Pennsylvania is...
For those of us who practice in the area of professional liability defense, there remains the question of whether to designate a client as an “expert.” This is true whether the defendant is an attorney, doctor, accountant, or any other type of...
In Pinder v. WCAB (Lucent Technologies), (No. 23 C.D. 2014,) submitted July 18, 2014, the parties were litigating Termination and Review Petitions when the employer requested that the claimant attend an IRE (impairment rating evaluation). The...
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently addressed the burden of proof between an employer and a claimant regarding the claimant’s legal eligibility to work under Federal immigration law whenever the employer seeks to suspend workers’ compensation...
In a recent decision from the New Jersey Appellate Division, the court determined that the Law Division does not have the authority to transfer the matter to the Workers’ Compensation Division. In addition, the filing of a claim in the Law Division...
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the statutory employer defense, resulting in the invalidation of a $1.5 million jury verdict. In Patton v. Worthington Associates, Inc. , 2014 Pa. Lexis 788, (Pa. 2014), the defendant Worthington...
On April 29, 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in a split decision, handed down the much anticipated opinion of Barrick v. Holy Spirit Hospital , which addresses the discovery of communications between attorneys and expert witnesses. As the...
In a dramatic shift from precedent, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Tooey vs. AK Steel et all., No. 21 WAP 2011, 2013 WL 6150887 (Pa. Nov. 22, 2013), held that the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act does not insulate employers from civil...
This past January, the United States Supreme Court issued a significant ruling that will limit where companies may be sued for claims that do not relate to business they conduct in a particular state. ...
In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court of Texas provided guidance for contractors, restricting insurers’ attempts to narrow coverage in general liability policies. Prior to the court’s ruling, a contractor’s general liability policy would commonly...
The plaintiff's bar continues to try novel theories to escape the effects of the United States Supreme Court decision of Pliva v. Mensing . In Mensing , the Supreme Court held that generic drug manufacturers are immune from liability as long as...
How far can the NJ WC Courts stretch the so-called “premises rule” of compensability? Based upon a recent decision of the New Jersey Appellate Division, this rule can be pushed pretty far in favor of an injured claimant. In the recent unpublished NJ...
On October 22, 2013, Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Corbett signed into law the Benevolent Gesture Medical Professional Liability Act. This law allows health care providers to make benevolent gestures to patients, a patient’s relatives, or a patient’s...
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently split down the middle, 3-3, in the appeal of Lipsky v. State Farm , leading to the affirmance of the Superior Court’s ruling that a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED) constitutes...
In AAA Mid-Atlantic Ins. Co. v. Ryan , decided on January 21, 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether, under an insurance policy for UIM coverage, the amount of an insured’s recovery may be offset by the amount of all...