Affirming a November 2020 decision by a lower appellate court, the Supreme Court of Ohio held the state Industrial Commission was within its powers when it rejected a proposed settlement agreement executed by representatives of an employer and an injured employee...
Where the a deceased worker’s estate initially received $35,798.04 from the employer’s workers’ compensation insurer and then recovered $25,000 from a third-party motor vehicle operator—the liability limits of the third-party’s auto...
Stressing the discretion allowed the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission in granting—or denying—an injured worker’s petition to settle and close out the medical portion of his workers’ compensation claim, a state appellate court affirmed the Commission...
In a deeply divided decision, the Supreme Court of Colorado reversed, in pertinent part, a decision by a divided division of the state’s Court of Appeals and held that a workers’ compensation carrier’s settlement with a third-party tortfeasor for all past medical...
Where a New York workers’ compensation claimant died of causes unrelated to his work injuries, having no surviving spouse, no child under the age of 18, and no otherwise qualifying dependents, his estate was not entitled to recover the full value of a posthumous...
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court, construing Wisconsin’s property exemptions law, Wisconsin Statute § 102.27, held that the sum of $400,000, which had been paid by the workers’ compensation carrier of the bankruptcy debtor’s employer into the trust account of the debtor...
An Iowa appellate court affirmed a decision by the workers' compensation commissioner allowing the commutation of a claimant's future permanent total disability benefits for a lump sum slightly in excess of one million dollars. Construing Iowa Code § 85...
Ohio Admin.Code 4121-3-20(F)(1) requires that a staff hearing officer (SHO) review a proposed settlement agreement related to an alleged violation of specific safety requirements ("VSSR") claim for adequacy; a cursory review to determine if the agreement...
A broad release contained within a settlement of a violation of specific safety requirements ("VSSR") claim, signed by an injured employee represented by counsel at the time, barred a later civil action filed by the employee against the employer for spoliation...
Construing North Carolina exemptions law, a federal bankruptcy court held that a Chapter 13 debtor could not claim an exemption in land and a mobile home that he purchased with the proceeds of a workers' compensation settlement agreement. The court noted that...
A decision by a Massachusetts Probate and Family Court judge that allocated $50,000 of an injured worker's remaining workers' compensation settlement proceeds to his wife under the terms of a divorce and marital settlement was appropriate, held a state...
Stressing that a person who is not a party to a contract is not bound by its terms, a Maryland appellate court held that a widow was not bound by a settlement agreement signed by her husband that purported to release not only the husband's rights to further...
The execution of a settlement agreement, in which the employee, a residential counselor at a Pennsylvania inpatient psychiatric facility, received a $40,000 lump sum from the employer in connection with injuries the counselor sustained when she was attacked by...
Observing that the Illinois Legislature had indicated a strong preference for period payments, rather than lump sum awards, a state appellate court recently held it was error for a state trial court to order immediate payment, in a lump sum, of all PPD benefits...
Citing Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law , and stressing that a surviving spouse’s death benefits claim is not derivative of the injured worker’s claim, a Maryland appellate court found that a settlement agreement and full release, signed only by the injured worker...