Cell Phone Caused Employee Injury

Paraplegic will receive $1.25M total in workers’ comp payout – $775,000 Settlement

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: July 23, 2012
Tags: Workers' Comp

An undocumented worker fell from a scaffold in January 1998. He suffered a spinal cord injury which rendered him a paraplegic. The case was accepted as compensable and medicals and indemnity were paid pursuant to an award. After one year, the carrier stopped payments, requested work authorization and made a FOIA request to Immigration Services. [...]

Case settles, major sanctions award lifted by judge

By Peter Vieth
Published: July 19, 2012
Tags: Judge H. Vincent Conway, Newport News Circuit Court, Sanctions, Workers' Comp

By Peter Vieth A Newport News judge agreed to drop heavy sanctions against a major railroad in a recent employee injury lawsuit after the railroad settled the worker’s claim. The case highlights conflicting public policy issues involved when litigants contend that peace on the battlefield justifies undoing a court-ordered penalty. The judge’s decision reversed a [...]

No Benefits for School Trip & Fall

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 5, 2012
Tags: Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

A school social worker who tripped over a “small gold-colored threshold” connected to a tile surface at the entrance to a school’s copy room is not entitled to workers’ comp benefits, as the Court of Appeals upholds the commission decision that her accident did not arise out of her employment. We adhere to the distinction [...]

No Income Means No Award for Widow

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 20, 2012
Tags: Judge Walter S. Felton Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

A sole proprietor of a prefabricated home business did not take income in the two years prior to his death in a work-related auto accident, and his widow cannot collect a workers’ comp award based on a presumed 40-hour work week at the federal minimum wage; the Court of Appeals reverses the commission’s award. Claimant, [...]

No Award, But Injury May Affect Rehab

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 13, 2012
Tags: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia, Workers' Comp

A UPS employee whose original claim cited a right hand and right knee injury from a fall from his truck wins an evidentiary hearing to show his hand injury keeps him from participating in vocational rehabilitation, even though the employee did not receive an award for the hand injury; the Supreme Court of Virginia reverses [...]

Separate Injury Requires New ‘Blue Letter’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2012
Tags: Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

A cabinetmaker’s employee who suffered a January 2007 wrist injury and a May 2007 thumb injury is not time-barred from claiming workers’ comp benefits for the thumb injury; in a case of first impression, the Court of Appeals says the “blue letter” claimant received on the wrist injury did not trigger a per se lack [...]

Shipyard bill may have unintended consequences

By Peter Vieth
Published: April 4, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Maritime, Workers' Comp

A controversial bill to remove state workers’ compensation protection for some shipyard employees could have the unintended effect of increasing negligence claims and lawsuits arising out of shipyard accidents, workers’ comp lawyers warn. Virginia shipyards narrowly won General Assembly approval of their plan to limit most shipyard workers to compensation under federal laws, eliminating coverage [...]

Employer Has ‘Prevailing Rate’ Burden

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 9, 2012
Tags: Judge William G. Petty, Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers' Comp

Despite evidence that a physician who provided treatment to claimant under a workers’ comp award reduced charges for services to Medicare patients and under a Longshore Fee Schedule, the Court of Appeals says employer did not meet its burden to show the larger fee charged by the provider exceeded the “prevailing rate” in the community [...]

No comp lien on med-mal award

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 20, 2011
Tags: Judge Clifford R. Weckstein, Medical Malpractice, Roanoke Circuit Court, Workers' Comp

An employer who paid for treatment of an employee’s broken leg cannot collect on a workers’ comp lien on the nearly $1 million medical malpractice award the employee later won from a Roanoke jury. Michael W. Thompson broke his right leg on the job at Bentech Manufacturing in Roanoke. In 2003, he sought workers’ compensation [...]