Generally, the issuance of a Notice of Ability to Return to Work (PA Form LIBC-757) is a prerequisite to obtaining a modification or suspension of a claimant’s benefits in the context of Claim,...

Section 306(a.2) requires that a claimant submit to an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) after the expiration of the claimant’s receipt of 104 weeks of temporary total disability (TTD) benefits....

When an employer authorizes a knee repair surgery, could it be liable for an eventual total knee replacement when there is evidence of pre-existing degenerative arthritis? It has often been...

In State ex rel. First State Bank v. Hustead , 2015 LEXIS 974 (Oct. 8, 2015), the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia found that a bank was not entitled to a writ of prohibition as to the...

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Babcock & Wilcox v. American Nuclear Insurers , 2015 Pa. LEXIS 1551 (July 21, 2015), a case of first impression, addressed the issue of whether an insured...

Even when a claimant has not reached full recovery and has not returned to work in any capacity, there are still avenues available to reduce workers’ compensation exposure. One of these avenues is...

In Becker v. Smith & Nephew, Inc. , the District Court of New Jersey recently held that plaintiffs could not compel answers to pre-complaint discovery in order to form the basis of the...

In Brady v. Urbas , 111 A.3d 1155 (Pa. 2015), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s decision to vacate judgment in favor of the defendant physician, Dr. Urbas, and remand...

New Jersey recently passed a noteworthy insurance fraud law and is about to pass an anti-indemnification law in the field of transportation. First and foremost, it is now an insurance fraud in New...

In a recent case, the question of whether the IME (Independent Medical Evaluation) letter asking specific questions is discoverable by the claimant’s counsel came about. As you may know, the IME...

Class action suits over stolen customer information were quickly becoming the next big thing in litigation. Companies, including Target, were in the crosshairs of plaintiffs’ attorneys hoping to...

A recent trip to the Appeal Board led me to write this article. While in attendance on a different matter, I learned of a case where the trial judge awarded a penalty for violation of the Special...

In the case of Estate of Denmark, v Williams , (Pa. Super. April 28, 2015), a three-member panel of the Superior Court reversed a trial court’s entry of summary judgment for a defendant-hospital...

Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law (CPSL) was amended in 2014 to include substantive changes to the requirements for the mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. The new law...

Plaintiff Robert Occhifinto (Occhifinto) filed suit against defendant Robert S. Keppler Mason Contractors, LLC (Keppler) and others, seeking damages for alleged defective construction of an...

In Rodriquez v. Kravco Simon Company, A.2d, 2015 Pa. Super. 41 (2015), the Superior Court reversed the trial court’s decision granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant property owner in...

In November 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued the much anticipated opinion of Tincher v. Omega Flex . While the state of product liability law was significantly altered in the...

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently decided a fascinating case, involving what was described as a “frivolous” appeal filed by the claimant. The most stunning element of the decision...

In a May 12, 2014, Memorandum Opinion, the Superior Court affirmed a multi-million dollar verdict in a trucking case where more than one million dollars in punitive damages was awarded. In so...

In response to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Vine v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State Employees’ Retirement Board, 607 Pa. 648; 9 A.3d 1150 (2010), the Pennsylvania legislature...