NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
Contact information for NWCDN members is also located on the state specific links in the event you have additional questions or your company is seeking a workers’ compensation lawyer in your state.
There are a large number of petitions for permanent partial disability benefits filed each year in New Jersey for scars and serious lacerations. It is important for practitioners to understand that injuries due to scars are subject to completely different proofs from all other physical injury claims in New Jersey.
The main difference between a scar case and every other physical injury case is that there is no requirement for a claimant to prove restriction of bodily function. Even if the scar has absolutely no impact on the function of one’s hand, arm or body part, the petitioner can receive an award. In fact, it is uncommon that a scar injury has an impact on bodily function. The operative test is that a scar injury case must be substantially disfiguring to receive an award. What is or is not substantially disfiguring is in the eye of the beholder. Certainly if one looks at the injury and no scar is visible at all, that injury would not meet the test of substantial disfigurement, and no award would be made. Yet all other kinds of injuries in New Jersey require proof by objective evidence of a restriction of the function of the body or its member organs.
Given that the test is essentially how disfiguring the scar looks, these kinds of cases may not even need an evaluation by a physician, although the practice statewide seems to favor getting IMEs. In many instances, it is more helpful to ask the injured worker to come to court so that the lawyers, and sometimes the Judge of Compensation, can view the scar if it is on the face, hands or arms. When the location of the scar is more private, or the claimant is uncomfortable having it viewed in person, a current photograph can be just as helpful or a description by a doctor in a medical report can suffice.
When it comes to viewing a scar and determining whether it is disfiguring, a Judge of Compensation, claim adjuster or a lawyer is equally qualified to make the same determination as a physician on whether the scar looks substantially disfiguring. One does not need a medical degree to answer the following: Is it a raised scar? Is it uneven or bumpy? Is it discolored? Does the skin appear to be keloidal in nature? These are observations that anyone can make in assessing whether a scar is substantially disfiguring. In fact, this practitioner has found that many doctors who do IMEs on scar injury cases mistakenly focus on assessing functional loss because they do not realize that in scar cases functional loss is not required under N.J.S.A. 34:15-36.
Because scars take a long time to heal and because collagen breaks down slowly at the site of the wound, the scar may fade significantly over a long period time. For this reason, it is not wise in serious scar injury cases for respondents to rush to get an IME soon after the injury. Often scars improve markedly one year or more after the initial injury. It is often startling to see how different the injury site looks at the time of the work incident versus how it looks one or two years later.
Practitioners often debate whether a scar should be compensated based on where it is located on the body or whether the injury is more psychological in nature and therefore should be compensated as a partial total injury. For instance, should a very unsightly scar on one’s hand be compensated in terms of the hand (one percent equals 2.45 weeks) or should it be compensated under partial total (one percent equals six weeks)? The answer is that this it depends on whether the petitioner is having psychiatric problems in relation to the appearance of the scar. An IME with a psychiatrist would be necessary to make the argument that the injury should be compensated in whole or in part under partial total with more weeks. The defense, in this instance, would need an IME with its own psychiatrist.
The best advice for employers in handling serious scar cases is not to try to settle the cases early on and to make sure that whenever possible, the defense counsel or court adjuster has an opportunity to view the scar at or near the time of settlement. In a significant percentage of cases, the IME is really unnecessary because, as noted above, the test is simply whether the scar appears to be disfiguring.
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John H. Geaney, Esq., is an Executive Committee Member and a Shareholder in Capehart Scatchard's Workers’ Compensation Group. Mr. Geaney concentrates his practice in the representation of employers, self-insured companies, third-party administrators, and insurance carriers in workers’ compensation, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Family and Medical Leave Act. Should you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Mr. Geaney at 856.914.2063 or by e‑mail at jgeaney@capehart.com.
By: Tracey Jones and Melissa Woodard
There are two categories of workers’ compensation claims: injury by accident and occupational disease claims. Occupational diseases are contracted over time based on the nature of the employee’s job. Some of the most common examples are hearing loss, respiratory diseases from alleged exposure to harmful chemicals or dust, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
North Carolina has two types of occupational diseases: those enumerated, or specifically listed, in N.C.G.S. § 97-53 and those that fall into the catch-all provision of that statute. The plaintiff must prove different criteria than when he or she alleges an injury by accident. If an employee alleges an enumerated occupational disease, he must prove exposure to the harmful agent and causation. Occupational diseases that fall under § 97-53(13), the catch-all provision, require proof of an additional element, increased risk. The plaintiff must prove that the nature of his job put him at a risk greater than the general public of contracting the alleged occupational disease. Briggs v. Debbie’s Staffing, Inc., 812 S.E.2d 706 (2018).
Occupational diseases also differ from injury by accident claims in their filing requirements. In order to confer jurisdiction upon the Industrial Commission over an injury by accident claim, the plaintiff must file a Form 18 within two years of the date of injury or the last payment of medical bills, whichever is later. For an occupational disease claim, however, the plaintiff has two years to file from the first date of disability or from the date a medical provider has provided an opinion causally linking the claimant’s disease and occupational exposure, whichever is later. N.C.G.S. § 97-58. Frequently, this means the plaintiff will have long since left his or her employment with the insured employer and possibly retired altogether.
Another interesting distinction between injury by accident and occupational disease claims is found in N.C.G.S. § 97-57, which describes the employer and carrier liable for the claim. The statute states the employer and carrier on the risk, or responsible for the claim, is the one where the employee was last injuriously exposed to the hazards of the occupational disease. The Court has determined that injurious exposure, however slight, is enough to shift the liability to another carrier. This issue creates a complexity to occupational disease claims that does not generally exist in injury by accident claims. There are often multiple employers and usually many insurance carriers brought into occupational disease claims as defendants because it is difficult to prove where the last injurious exposure may have occurred. As the result of the last injurious exposure standard being so low, often times the last employer and carrier in time ends up being liable despite evidence to the contrary.
Practice Tip: When dealing with an occupational disease claim, be sure to retain counsel as soon as possible and especially if discovery is served, because discovery in these cases can be very complicated and will require a detailed analysis regarding what is relevant and what should actually be produced. Only in very rare cases would it be in the interest of the employer or carrier to accept an occupational disease claim due to the burden of proof on the plaintiff and the last injurious exposure defense outlined in from N.C.G.S. § 97-57. The best practice is to allow defense counsel to take the lead on investigating the claim, in order to evaluate the strength of the last injurious exposure defense as well as answering discovery from the plaintiff.
On September 6, 2019, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals released its opinion inEx parte Warrior Met Coal, Inc. In Warrior, the employee continued to work for employer when he filed a complaint for hearing loss. The employer moved for summary judgment because the employee was still working for them under the same noise conditions. The argument being that the employee could not establish a date of last exposure which, in Alabama, is considered the date of injury for cumulative exposure claims. The employer also argued that the employee could not establish a date of maximum medical improvement “MMI” since he continued to be exposed to the same noise conditions. The trial court denied the employer’s motion. The employer then petitioned the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals for a Writ of Mandamus directing the trial court to grant the summary judgment motion.
The Court of Appeals denied the employer’s petition. The court noted that nothing in the Act precluded employees from pursuing hearing loss claims simply because they would continue to be exposed. The Court noted that date of last exposure did not mean the last time the employee would ever be exposed with that employer. Rather, it means the most recent in time or latest. To rule otherwise would mean the employee would have to wait until he/she would never be exposed again in order to pursue any benefits including medical.
Concerning the MMI issue, the Court noted that this only had to do with whether or not there was any further medical care or treatment that could reasonably be anticipated to lessen the extent of current disability. It has nothing to do with whether or not the employee’s condition could worsen in the future.
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About the Author
This blog submission was prepared by Mike Fish, an attorney with Fish Nelson & Holden, LLC, a law firm dedicated to representing self-insured employers, insurance carriers, and third party administrators in all matters related to workers’ compensation. Fish Nelson & Holden is a member of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. If you have any questions about this submission or Alabama workers’ compensation in general, please contact Fish by e-mailing him at mfish@fishnelson.com or by calling him directly at 205-332-1448.
When you think of pirates of the 13th Century, images of fierce sword-wielding warriors engaged in bloody ship to ship sea battles immediately come to mind. It may shock you to know, that pirates actually had one of the earliest no-fault workers’ compensation systems. Each ship had a written compensation schedule where it was agreed that the loss of a limb would result in a lump sum payment of a pre-set number of pieces of eight. Once the agreement was signed, it was not negotiable. Therefore, despite their bloody nature, the pirates’ workers’ compensation system was not adversarial in any way.
The modern day workers’ compensation system, however, is exceedingly adversarial. By definition, the system is characterized by conflict or opposition. The word “adversarial” is synonymous with words such as “jaundiced”, “negative”, “unfriendly”, and “unsympathetic”. Such an antagonistic system often times results in delays to the injured employee and increased costs to the employers and insurers. Why and how has it come to this?
There is language in every state’s Workers’ Compensation Act that is open to interpretation by judges. Issues of causation and extent of disability are also typically litigated matters. Contributing to the process are harbored feelings by parties and their lawyers of bias, demonization, distrust, prejudice, and stigmatization. When you throw in the personalities and emotions of all involved, it creates an environment that would shiver even a pirate’s timbers.
On September 19, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. EST, a webinar entitled Adversarial Workers’ Compensation Systems; Survival and Success in a Contentious World will be co-hosted by the President of WorkersCompensation.com, Bob Wilson, and Judge David Langham. Joining as guests to this 10th installment of The Hot Seat webinar series will be Virginia Commissioner Wes Marshall and yours truly. Registration is free. You may register here.
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About the Author
This blog submission was prepared by Mike Fish, an attorney with Fish Nelson & Holden, LLC, a law firm dedicated to representing self-insured employers, insurance carriers, and third party administrators in all matters related to workers’ compensation. Fish Nelson & Holden is a member of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. If you have any questions about this submission or Alabama workers’ compensation in general, please contact Fish by e-mailing him at mfish@fishnelson.com or by calling him directly at 205-332-1448.
A review of consent orders issued by the Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation since early 2019 indicates the DWC is monitoring and removing designated doctors who fail to perform under the requirements of the rules. A Medical Quality Review Panel (“MQRP”) audit was done to evaluate the medical necessity and appropriateness of additional testing or referral by designated doctors. At the conclusion of the audit, the DWC determined that, not only did the doctors unnecessarily make referrals to other providers or order unnecessary testing, they also engaged in other activities that either violated the rules or were considered substandard by the DWC. Specifically, the consent orders identify the following reasons for sanctioning the designated doctors:
The following designated doctors have either been removed from the DWC designated doctor list for a period of time ranging from 2 to 4 years or have been ordered to pay administrative penalties and complete DWC workshops and other additional training:
AL Jameson, D.C. removed for 2 years
Sandra E. Silmon, D.C. fined and training orderedAt the recent State Bar of Texas Advanced Workers’ Compensation Seminar, attorney Matt Lewis, reviewed the DWC Appeals Panel decisions from August of 2018 to July of 2019. Lewis noted that the vast majority of the Appeals Panel Decisions focused on correcting clerical errors or misstatements of evidence and facts in Administrative Law Judge Decisions. The decisions were remanded or rendered by the Appeals Panel in situations where ALJs: failed to make a determination on complete periods of disability; provided inconsistent determinations within the D&O; failed to make findings of facts and conclusions of law on all issues litigated; misstated fact despite stipulations to those facts; failed to allow a Carrier to get an RME after the ALJ ordered a new DD examination; and, adopted MMI/IR certifications that failed to rate the entire compensable injury or rated conditions that were not compensable.
In the months of July and August of 2019, the Appeals Panel wrote four decisions.
To Rate a Hernia, There Must be a Palpable Defect. In APD 191070, the ALJ adopted the designated doctor’s certification of MMI/IR, which included 1% for bilateral inguinal hernia using Class 1 in Table 7 of the AMA Guides. However, the designated doctor’s narrative report explained that Claimant’s hernia repair was holding well and he had no palpable defect or protrusion. The Appeals Panel noted that each class listed in Table 7 of the AMA Guides requires a palpable defect in the supporting structures of the abdominal wall to justify rating under that table. The case was remanded for the ALJ to instruct the DD to rate the compensable injury in accordance with the AMA Guides.
Injury While Walking Across a Public Street is Likely Not Compensable under the Access Doctrine. In APD 190929, the Appeals Panel discussed, among other things, whether an injury was compensable under the access doctrine where the claimant was walking across a public street when he was struck by a truck. Under the “coming and going” rule, an injury that occurs while an employee is going to or coming from work is not compensable. However, there are several exceptions to this general rule including the “access doctrine.” Under the “access doctrine,” an injury is compensable if the employer has evidenced an intention that the access route or area that should be used by employees in going to or from work is so closely related to the employer’s premises as to be fairly treated as part of them.
The claimant in this case was injured when he was struck by a truck while crossing a public street on foot. The ALJ determined the injury was compensable, but failed to identify under which of the four alternate theories advanced the ALJ relied to determine the injury was compensable. The Appeals Panel remanded to the ALJ for further development of the case, but cautioned that the Supreme Court has held that “no case has extended the ‘access exception’ out into the public streets where other members of the public are subject to the same hazard.”
ALJ Cannot Add Issue if it is Not Raised at the BRC or Actually Litigated. In APD 190915, the Appeals Panel reversed and struck an ALJ’s determination that the Carrier did not specifically contest compensability based on the claimant’s failure to timely file a claim for compensation within one year. The issue was not certified out of the BRC and neither party asked to add the issue at the CCH. In fact, the issue was never mentioned at the CCH. The ALJ added the issue after the CCH without notifying the parties he was doing so. The Appeals Panel held that the issue of the carrier’s waiver was not actually litigated and it was an abuse of discretion to add the issue.
Rebutting the Compensability Presumption in Firefighter Cancer Case. In APD 191065, the ALJ determined that a self-insured rebutted the presumption that a firefighter developed pancreatic and liver cancer during the course and scope of his employment. The self-insured showed that a risk factor, accident, hazard or other cause not associated with the firefighter’s work caused his cancer, relying on a doctor’s report. In testimony at the CCH, the doctor opined that the cancer was related to family history. The Appeals Panel disagreed with the ALJ that the presumption of compensability was rebutted by the self-insured.
The self-insured’s rebuttal evidence included the firefighter’s own testimony that his father had kidney cancer. However, no specific evidence was offered linking the father’s kidney cancer to a neuroendocrine tumor, which is one of the conditions with which the firefighter had been diagnosed. Moreover, the self-insured’s doctor did not identify the cause of the firefighter’s cancer, but rather, the doctor simply voiced his contention that the cancer was related to family history citing an absence of the cancer among those identified in the firefighter literature.
The Appeals Panel reversed and rendered a decision that the self-insured did not rebut the presumption. Following this decision, it appears that to rebut the presumption, the Appeal Panel may require some evidence of genetic testing to determine if the firefighter possesses any of the genetic syndromes which have been identified to cause pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
Copyright 2019, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
SB 1742, effective 09/01/19, amended Texas Labor Code Section 408.0043 and requires peer review, utilization review and independent review of health care services to injured employees to be performed by doctors of “the same or a similar specialty” as the requesting physician. It will be up to the DWC to explain, hopefully by administrative rule, what “similar” actually means.
Prior to the amendment, the statute required peer review, utilization review, independent review, designated doctor, required medical examination and medical quality review panel doctors who reviewed workers’ compensation cases to hold “a professional certification in a health care specialty appropriate to the type of health care that the injured employee is receiving.” The amendment now requires a specialty “match” the requestor for certain kinds of review. It remains to be seen how “similar specialty” will be defined by the DWC.
Copyright 2019,Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
While limited workers’ compensation legislation was passed in the 2017 session, there were a few new items advanced out of the recent 86th Legislature. Prominent among this year’s new laws is SB 2551, which addressed workers’ compensation liability, payment and benefits relating to firefighter and emergency medical technicians suffering from cancer as a result of their job duties for claims filed on or after 6/10/19.
The DWC recently accepted comments on an informal working draft of rules designed to implemental SB 2551. The changes involve the amended process for claim notification, the carrier’s obligation to investigate when it receives notice of an injury for which a presumption may apply, and the assessment of administrative penalties and factors to be considered in determining sanctions for those violations.
Of particular note in this draft is the provision that, under certain circumstances, an insurance carrier is not required to comply with the 15-day deadline to initiate benefits payments or provide notice of refusal, and the steps a carrier must take to qualify for that exemption in those cases.
For more information see:https://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/rules/documents/dr124sb2551m.pdf.
Copyright 2019,Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
The State of Oklahoma filed suit against pharmaceutical manufacturers alleging their marketing, promotion and sales of opioid drugs in Oklahoma led to an opioid epidemic that constituted a violation of the state’s public nuisance law. On 8/26/19, an Oklahoma district judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million dollars to abate the public nuisance. In his 42 page judgment after a 33 day trial involving 42 witnesses and 874 exhibits, the judge laid out the history of the opioid crisis in Oklahoma and the rest of the country, and his conclusions that the defendants engaged in false and misleading marketing of their drugs in violation of Oklahoma’s public nuisance law.
Attorneys on both sides of the issue have been watching the Oklahoma case as several other states have sued drug manufacturers for their role in the nationwide crisis. The State of Texas, Bexar County, Harris County, the City of Houston, and McLennan County (to name a few) have all filed suit against Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson, the defendants in the Oklahoma lawsuit.
A federal trial is scheduled to begin this fall in Ohio involving almost 2,000 cases brought by cities, counties, communities and tribal lands claiming the drug companies caused the epidemic. On the heels of the Oklahoma judgment, according to a Washington Post article published 08/27/19, Purdue Pharma, one of the common defendants in all of the pending opioid litigation, has offered to settle the federal suit for around $12 billion, including $3 billion in personal funds from the family who owns the company. The family would relinquish control of the company and declare bankruptcy as part of the deal. According to the article, the plaintiffs are considering the deal seriously in light of the fact that Purdue is likely headed to bankruptcy soon, regardless of the outcome of settlement negotiations.
Shortly after the Oklahoma judgment was entered, Johnson & Johnson attorneys announced their plan to appeal the judgment. It promises to be a long and drawn out process, but Round One of this test case goes to the plaintiffs.
- Copyright 2019, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP
This practitioner is often asked two questions regarding workers’ compensation settlements in New Jersey: 1) Can we settle out of court? and 2) Can we get a termination agreement at the time of settlement?
There are a number of limitations on settlements in New Jersey that are different from the practice of law in other states. One has to do with the prohibition against out of court settlements. The employer, third party administrator or carrier may not reach an agreement with the injured worker to settle a workers’ compensation claim unless that claim is the subject of a claim petition properly filed and heard before a Judge of Compensation. An injured worker is not even eligible for an award of permanent partial disability until he or she files a claim petition through counsel.
Three sections of the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act make this clear: N.J.S.A. 34:15-22, 34:15-39, and 34:15-50. In all three sections, as a precondition to settling any claim of workers’ compensation, a claim petition must be filed in the Division of Workers’ Compensation, and only the Judge of Compensation can enter an order approving settlement or one of dismissal.
Another major distinction between New Jersey and other states has to do with waiver of workers’ compensation rights in other agreements. The statutes cited above make clear that the employer may not ask an injured worker to waive rights to workers’ compensation as part of another agreement, such as a separation agreement. There are many laws that can be waived in a valid separation agreement, such as rights under the ADA, FMLA, etc., but workers’ compensation is not one of them. These kinds of waivers are against public policy.
Similarly, it is fairly common in many states that an employer will get a signed letter of resignation at the time of the workers’ compensation settlement. There are both practical and legal reasons why this does not happen in New Jersey. First, most injured workers are back to work doing the very same job by the time the settlement occurs. That is a big practical difference from other states where workers remain out of work for years even for relatively modest injuries.
New Jersey is not a wage loss state but rather a functional loss state. Most of the injured workers in New Jersey who have formal claim petitions in the Division have already returned to work long before the settlement, either to their former job or a new job. In wage loss states like Pennsylvania, the injured worker may have been out of work for years by the time the case is settled. In states like Pennsylvania, the worker who has been away from work for years may agree to provide a letter of resignation for nominal consideration.
In New Jersey, going back to work – even the same job – does not detract from the ability of the injured worker to obtain a compensation award for permanent partial disability. Injured workers in New Jersey may receive both temporary disability benefits and an award of permanent partial disability as part of the same case. There is no requirement that an injured worker prove impairment of working capacity to obtain an award of permanent partial disability. All the injured worker must do is prove objective medical evidence of impairment as well as substantial impairment of major life activities.
Since the vast majority of injured workers are back to work in New Jersey at the time of settlement and doing the very same job as the one they did before their injury, seeking a resignation letter is fraught with legal peril. First, the employee is often an active working unit performing essential job functions. In that situation, there is seldom any legal basis to terminate someone who is doing his or her job satisfactorily. Second, many judges would view an attempt to terminate an injured worker as part of a workers’ compensation settlement as retaliatory or a violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. If the employee is able to perform the essential functions of the job, termination of employment as part of a settlement of a workers’ compensation claim would likely lead to immediate labor law litigation.
So can an employer ever get a resignation at the time of settlement? It can be done but it must be done through labor counsel, following all the rules that prevail in such agreements in New Jersey. Further, these employment releases are only done when the employee remains out of work for a very long time. The agreement between the parties must be negotiated for separate consideration, and the injured worker will almost certainly need his own labor counsel. There are many laws that such an agreement must cover to be effective, and any employment release must meet state and federal legal requirements.
If the parties do reach an agreement on termination of employment through respective labor counsel, that agreement will not be placed on the record in the New Jersey Division of Workers’ Compensation. Judges will not reference any separation agreement nor determine whether it is fair or just. The employment agreement is executed outside workers’ compensation court with both sides having retained labor counsel to advise them.
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John H. Geaney, Esq., is an Executive Committee Member and a Shareholder in Capehart Scatchard's Workers’ Compensation Group. Mr. Geaney concentrates his practice in the representation of employers, self-insured companies, third-party administrators, and insurance carriers in workers’ compensation, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Family and Medical Leave Act. Should you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Mr. Geaney at 856.914.2063 or by e‑mail at jgeaney@capehart.com.