A claimant was not eligible for benefits after the commission found he intentionally circumvented a safety protocol that de-energizes dangerous machinery upon an employee entering the area. The commission rejected his claim that the safety rules were not enforced. Background ...

Tagged with: Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission Workers' Compensation

Claimant sustained a spinal cord injury when he fell from a roof in 2017. The employer accepted the claim and the Commission entered an award order. The parties began settlement negotiations in 2018. After several weeks a final settlement figure ...

Tagged with: Million-Dollar Settlements Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission Workers' Compensation

A workers’ compensation carrier has no lien for a negotiated lump-sum settlement of a claimant›s future benefits in a tort action against a third party. Under Noblin v. Randolf Corp., 180 Va. 345 (1942), and Slusher v. Paramount Warrior, 336 F. Supp. ...

Tagged with: Buckingham County Circuit Court Insurance Judge Donald Carl Blessing Personal Injury Virginia Circuit Courts Workers' Compensation

An employer was on notice that a workers’ compensation claim related not only to an initial work-related injury and surgery to repair it, but also to a subsequent knee replacement necessitated by the claimant’s post-operative stress fracture. Background Claimant Denzil ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Robert J. Humphreys U.S. District Court - Western District Workers' Compensation

The Workers’ Compensation Commission did not err in declining to infer that a claimant fell due to the condition of the floor where she slipped at work, rather than due to her pre-existing knee condition. Background In 2016, Appellant Sabrina ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Mary Grace O'Brien Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

The Workers’ Compensation Commission did not err in finding that the composition of the review panel was proper and that the claimant adequately marketed her residual work capacity. Background Claimant Kathleen Tefft was an assistant freight manager at one of ...

Tagged with: Administrative Employment Employment Law Judge Mary B. Malveaux Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

A retired firefighter diagnosed with throat cancer – an occupational disease – was not a “disabled person” prevented from the further performance of his duties and, thus, was not entitled to continuing health insurance coverage. Background Plaintiff Eddie R. Jones Sr. was ...

Tagged with: Administrative Employment Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia Workers' Compensation

Claimant is a 42-year-old quadriplegic as a result of a fall from a second story balcony. Claimant lives at home by himself in a rental house. He has no contact with any family members and requires 24/7 home health care ...

Tagged with: Million-Dollar Settlements Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission Workers' Compensation

The Workers’ Compensation Commissioner correctly interpreted a provision of the Workers’ Compensation Act to set forth a disjunctive set of proof standards, of which the claimant need satisfy only one to show permanent total disability. Background Appellee Carson Vanover, currently ...

Tagged with: Administrative Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

The Commission erred in concluding that an EMT, who had previously felt light-headed but never fainted when seeing large needle injections, showed that his loss of consciousness was caused by observing a spinal injection. Background On July 1, 2016, Appellee ...

Tagged with: Administrative Judge Teresa M. Chafin Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation