THE MOST IMPORTANT 2011/2012 RULINGS BY PENNSYLVANIA COURTS ON WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ISSUES

August 21, 2012 by connorsodell

I.       Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Supersedeas Fund reimbursement; medical expense: Dept. of Labor & Industry v. WCAB (Crawford), 23 A.3d 511 (Pa., 2011) Supersedeas Fund reimbursement of medical expense will be based on the date of the presentation of an invoice for medical services (implied to have been presented in due course), not the date of service. This… Read more »

THE PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT ALLOWS UNINSURED DRIVERS TO RECOVER ECONOMIC DAMAGES AGAINST TORTFEASOR

July 18, 2012 by connorsodell

In Corbin vs. Khosla, an opinion is authored by Justice McCaffery, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has addressed the issue of whether an uninsured driver, injured in a motor vehicle accident with an insured driver, can then sue the insured driver in tort for economic damages, highlighting the tension in the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law in… Read more »

SUSPENDING WORKERS’ COMPENSATION MEDICAL BENEFITS FOR FAILURE TO ATTEND AN ORDERED IME

May 17, 2012 by connorsodell

A.        THE CASE: The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in the case of Giant Eagle, Inc. V. WCAB (Givner), No. 14 WAP 2010, decided on March 12, 2012, affirmed a Commonwealth Court holding that a claimant who fails to attend a Court ordered Independent Medical Examination (IME) without reasonable excuse can be subject to the suspension of medical benefits, in… Read more »

THE OVERREACHING COUNTER GIRL

May 10, 2012 by connorsodell

Some lessons in life can never be learned hard enough. Like, you can make lemonade out of lemons, but try making lemons out of lemonade. Recently successful in defending a workers’ compensation claim brought by a corpulent Convenience Store Assistant General Manager, who injured herself while she was stocking a walk-in cooler, as she dropped… Read more »

SUSPENDING WORKERS’ COMPENSATION MEDICAL BENEFITS FOR FAILURE TO ATTEND AN ORDERED IME

May 07, 2012 by connorsodell

A.        THE CASE: The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in the case of Giant Eagle, Inc. V. WCAB (Givner), No. 14 WAP 2010, decided on March 12, 2012, affirmed a Commonwealth Court holding that a claimant who fails to attend a Court ordered Independent Medical Examination (IME) without reasonable excuse can be subject to the suspension of medical benefits, in… Read more »

PENNSYLVANIA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SUBROGATION LIEN OUTLINE

February 08, 2012 by connorsodell

Recently presenting at a reinsurance conference on the issue of Pennsylvania workers’ compensation subrogation liens, one that all of us probably think about every day, being that not insignificant monies have been expended in paying for workers’ compensation benefits, in the form of wage loss and medical compensation benefits, it occurred to us that the… Read more »

SHUT THE BARRICK UP!

January 23, 2012 by connorsodell

While silence is sometimes regarded as being golden, the Superior Court’s recent ruling, on November 23, 2011 in Barrick v. Holy Spirit Hospital, involving the delicate issue of counsel communications with expert witnesses, thankfully will not stand for that proposition, with the Superior Court holding, in an Opinion authored by Justice Mundy, that counsel communications with… Read more »

TO POST OR NOT TO POST

January 18, 2012 by connorsodell

Whether tis nobler to post on Facebook, and to suffer the salubrious likes and dislikes of friends promoting health and welfare, while conspicuously visible to the naked eye of the known universe, or to sulk, alas, silently, while a classic battleground has arisen, at least for civil litigation discovery purposes, between those who post and… Read more »

CONGRATULATIONS

January 16, 2012 by connorsodell

ConnorsLaw, okay, we get it, proudly congratulates its partner, Kevin Connors, on his recent nomination/election as a Fellow into the prestigious College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, capping a 24 year professional journey through the minefields, and subterranean caverns of Pennsylvania workers’ compensation practice and procedure, in the course of which thousands of individual workers’ compensation… Read more »