C&W Journal

September 11, 2018

New Jersey Governor Signs Legislation Limiting Fee Reduction for Voluntary Tenders

As many New Jersey Workers' Compensation defense practitioners are aware, the bona fide voluntary tender (or "VT") has been an effective vehicle to permit employers to offset a portion of attorney fee exposure associated with a permanency award by issuing a voluntary payment of permanency to an injured worker, while at the same time incentivizing...

July 10, 2018

PA Supreme Court Interprets Section 319 of the Workers'...

The Supreme Court of PA has been very busy so far this summer with Workers' Compensation matters. Shortly on the heels of the Court's decisions in Whitfield and Pavlack , which dealt with Protz...

June 19, 2018

IREs Post-Protz - Does Timing Matter?

Decisions in two cases involving Impairment Rating Evaluations (IRE) were decided by the Commonwealth Court on June 6, 2018. The cases were Whitfield v. WCAB (Tenet Health System Hahnemann LLC)...

January 09, 2018

A Firm Can Avoid Conflicts By Making A Referral, Right?

Every lawyer has been taught that when a conflict of interest exists with a client, one solution is to make a referral to another lawyer. However, will the referral avoid a conflict of interest...

December 15, 2017

Attorneys Beware — Cybercriminals are After Your Client's Money

Remember the days of sending letters to clients and opposing counsel? Over the years, this practice has diminished and emails have become the most common type of communication. Email has become an...

August 15, 2017

The Settle and Sue Doctrine Revisited

In June 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a petition for allowance of appeal to consider whether it should overturn its decision in Muhammad v. Strassberger, McKenna, Messer, Shilobod ...

April 27, 2017

Dragonetti Act Held Constitutional, But Narrower Challenges Remain

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, by split decision, upheld the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's Dragonetti Act. Villani v. Seibert , 66 MAP 2016; 2017 Pa. LEXIS 939 (April 26, 2017). As a...

February 01, 2017

Why You Need to Prepare for a Cyberbreach

As a profession, we must assess and prepare ourselves for the risks of a technologically connected world in order to continue in the tradition of serving our clients and keeping their confidences....

January 17, 2017

Protecting Firm and Client Information Against Cyber Risks

Technological advances continue to expand the scope of risks that the legal profession experiences in maintaining the privacy and security of privileged client information in a secure, yet...

November 27, 2016

Judge Allows Claim for Corporate Negligence Against Physicians...

Corporate negligence claims against a physicians practice group are often pled by plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases in an effort to implicate additional insurance coverage and bring the...

November 01, 2016

Treating Physician's Medical Reports Basis for Denial of Claim...

In Myers v. Geisinger , the claimant filed a claim petition alleging that he sustained an injury on October 28, 2015. Specifically, the petition alleged that the claimant sustained an aggravation...

November 01, 2016

Subsection (e) of the MCARE Act Swallows the Rule

The MCARE Act requires experts offering standard of care testimony to practice in the same subspecialty or possess the same board-certification as the defendant physician. However, these...

November 01, 2016

Subsequently Filed Petitions to Terminate — Factors Employers Need...

In Baumann v. WCAB (Kellogg Company) , No. 2603 C.D. 2015, the claimant petitioned for review of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board's (WCAB) order affirming the WCJ's decision on remand...

November 01, 2016

NJ Case Law Update — Wage Reconstruction and the Katsoris Rule

A common argument made by petitioners' attorneys is in favor of wage reconstruction. This principle, as outlined in the seminal NJ Supreme Court opinion of Katsoris v. South Jersey Pub. Co ., 131...

November 01, 2016

EDI Forms Solution: Linking EDI Transactions with Filing Select...

On September 9, 2013, the Workers' Compensation Automation and Integration System (WCAIS) went live in Pennsylvania. From day one, the Bureau of Workers' Compensation (Bureau) has been faced with...

September 30, 2016

September is Upon Us, Which Means Rule Changes in NJ

The New Jersey Supreme Court amended and adopted new Rules Governing the Courts of New Jersey, effective September 1, 2016. Some of the highlights for the civil practitioner include changes to the...

September 30, 2016

Learned Intermediary Doctrine Remains Jersey Strong

A recent decision out of Atlantic County, New Jersey, continues to bode well for the application of the learned intermediary doctrine. The learned intermediary doctrine is a defense rule that...

September 30, 2016

Insurance Bad Faith is No Longer Part of the "Entire...

Those familiar with New Jersey procedural law are also familiar with the "entire controversy" doctrine. The entire controversy is codified in a court rule, specifically, R.4:30A, and provides in...

September 30, 2016

Cybersecurity and Data Protection - Today's Test for Higher...

University of Connecticut, City College of San Francisco, University of Central Florida, University of Virginia, University of Northern Iowa, Southern New Hampshire University; aside from being...

July 23, 2016

Impairment Rating Evaluation: WCJ Permitted to Reject...

In the case of IA Construction Corporation v. WCAB (Rhodes) , 2016 Pa. LEXIS 1070, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a workers' compensation judge has the authority to reject the...

July 23, 2016

Ethical Decision Making for Adjusters

Claims adjusters in virtually all jurisdictions are bound by a code of ethics. Many adjusters are licensed and practice in multiple states and therefore have multiple codes that they must follow....

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