DEFENSE COUNSEL SELECTION IN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION MATTERS

December 27, 2016 by connorsodell

By: Kevin L. Connors With grateful appreciation to one of our very favorite workers’ compensation bloggers, Michael Stack, a Principal in COMPClub and Amaxx LLC, and an expert in workers’ compensation cost containment systems and Consultant to Employers seeking to reduce their workers’ compensation costs, we are reprinting Michael’s recent article, published on December 21,… Read more »

REFRESH YOURSELF: THE PERSONAL COMFORT DOCTRINE IN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

November 22, 2016 by connorsodell

By: Kevin L. Connors, Esquire II    INTRODUCTION: Universal throughout workers’ compensation statutes, the personal comfort doctrine is a real, and sometimes amusingly interesting, result-oriented principle ubiquitous in workers’ compensation decisions and rulings, at times testing the boundaries of compensability, as employees attending to personal needs, for comfort or sustenance, to include work-time breaks for… Read more »

THE LONG AND SHORE OF IT

November 09, 2016 by connorsodell

By Kevin L. Connors, Esquire In Savoy v. WCAB, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed the underlying Decisions of the Appeal Board and the WCJ, with the Appeal Board affirming the WCJ’s Decision to deny the Claimant’s Claim Petition, finding that the Claimant’s claim fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act… Read more »

TERMINATING COMPENSATION BENEFITS IN PENNSYLVANIA

November 09, 2016 by connorsodell

By Kevin L. Connors, Esquire “I’m never going to be disabled.  I’m sick of being so healthy.” Thank you, Homer Simpson. “All my life I’ve had one dream, to achieve my many goals.” Thank you again, Homer! With those self-evident truths behind us, we can now focus on the recent Decision of the Commonwealth Court… Read more »

HOMER’S ODYSSEY INTO BAD FAITH

November 09, 2016 by connorsodell

By Kevin L. Connors, Esquire “The journey is the thing.”, citing from Homer, author of both The Odyssey and The Iliad. A recent Decision by the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, decided on August 26, 2016, takes us on an odyssey through a bad faith claim, ultimately resulting in a safe harbor for… Read more »

BAD FAITH UPDATE

September 20, 2016 by connorsodell

By Kevin L. Connors, Esquire The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to grant an Appeal in the case of Rancosky v. Washington National Insurance Company, to address the issue of what proofs are necessary to establish Insurer bad faith under 42 Pa.C.S.§8371. Currently, the gold standard for determining bad faith under Section 8371 has been the… Read more »

REEFER MADNESS CLOUDS PENNSYLVANIA

September 19, 2016 by connorsodell

By Kevin L. Connors, Esquire Released in 1936, the movie classic Reefer Madness captured the social hysteria of drug addiction amid a cloud of marijuana smoke. Originally titled as Tell Your Children, with alternate titles being The Burning Question, Dope Addict, Doped Youth, the movie was an American drama highlighting melodramatic events after High School students were lured by… Read more »

TO APPEAL OR NOT TO APPEAL

August 26, 2016 by connorsodell

By: Kevin L. Connors, Esquire In a recent Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided on June 14, 2016, in Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, the Commonwealth Court addressed an issue often unique in workers’ compensation practice, being whether the an order that is clearly marked “Interim/Interlocutory”, further specifically providing on the face of the Decision… Read more »

A GIANT NONSUIT

August 12, 2016 by connorsodell

By: Kevin L. Connors, Esquire  Recently, the Pennsylvania Superior Court, in a Memorandum Opinion issued on June 16, 2016, affirmed a nonsuit granted by the Trial Court in a premises liability negligence lawsuit brought by a store customer who alleged that she was injured when she slipped and fell on a Red Bull beverage can left… Read more »

Save The Date

August 12, 2016 by connorsodell

By: Kevin L. Connors, Esquire To All Workers’ Compensation Practitioners and Clients: The National Workers Compensation Defense Network is hosting its 2016 Fall Conference in Chicago, Illinois on September 22, 2016. The NWCDN event is open to all NWCDN member firms and their invited guests. The NWCDN never charges its guests for attendance at its Conferences…. Read more »