A Capehart Scatchard Blog

John H. Geaney

John H. Geaney, Esq. is a Shareholder and Co-Chair of Capehart Scatchard's Workers' Compensation Group. Mr. Geaney began an email newsletter entitled “Currents in Workers’ Compensation, ADA and FMLA” in 2001 in order to keep clients and readers informed on leading developments in these three areas of law. Since that time he has written over 500 newsletter updates.

Mr. Geaney is the author of Geaney’s New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Manual for Practitioners, Adjusters & Employers. The Manual is distributed by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NJICLE). He also authored an ADA and FMLA Manual also distributed by NJICLE. If you are interested in purchasing “Geaney’s New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Manual for Practitioners, Adjusters & Employers,” please contact NJICLE at 732-214-8500 or visit their website at www.njicle.com.

Mr. Geaney represents employers in the defense of workers’ compensation, ADA and FMLA matters. He is a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers of the American Bar Association. He is one of two firm representatives to the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network.

A graduate of Holy Cross College summa cum laude, Mr. Geaney obtained his law degree from Boston College Law School.

Mr. Geaney was selected to the “New Jersey Super Lawyer” list (2005-2017, 2021 in the area of Workers’ Compensation). Only 5% of attorneys are selected to “Super Lawyers” through a peer nominated process based on independent research and peer evaluation. The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. For a description of the “Super Lawyers” selection methodology, please visit https://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html

For the years 2022-2024 Mr. Geaney was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® list in the practice area of Workers’ Compensation Law - Employers. The attorneys on this list are selected based upon the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area. A complete description of The Best Lawyers in America® methodology can be viewed via their website at https://www.bestlawyers.com/methodology.

*No aspect of this advertisement has been submitted to or approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Capehart Scatchard is a full service law firm with offices in Mt. Laurel and Hamilton, New Jersey. The firm represents employers and businesses in a wide variety of areas, including workers’ compensation, civil litigation, labor, environmental, business, estates and governmental affairs.

Appellate Division Sides With Petitioner in Dispute Over Compensability on Motion Trial

It can be difficult to predict the outcome of appeals where the issue before the Judge of Compensation is credibility of witnesses as opposed to pure legal issues.  In Frank Hodson v. C. Abbonizio Contractors, Inc., A-2083-14T3 (App. Div. May 2, 2016), Mr. Hodson said that while working as a laborer on May 9 and […]

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Past Medical History Remains the Key to Controlling Costs in Workers’ Compensation

Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it, wrote George Santayana.  In workers’ compensation, those who do not know the past are doomed to pay for it.  Winning in workers’ compensation in almost every state comes down to developing past information about injuries, car accidents, chiropractic care, sports activities, second jobs, […]

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CDC Releases Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain

Pain management has become a major health issue and cost driver in most state workers’ compensation programs with the proliferation of prescription opiates and consequential addictions arising from workers’ compensation injuries.  One of the central problems that practitioners face in file handling and in court is the absence of any clear standards to decide whether […]

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Are You Covered for Comp When You Tear Your Knee Playing for the Company Softball Team or Dancing at the Holiday Party?

Most employers have some recreational or social activities throughout the year, and unfortunately, injuries tend to occur at these events.  There used to be so many of these kinds of claims that the New Jersey Legislature enacted new legislation in 1980 under N.J.S.A. 34:15-7, which provides that recreational and social activities do not arise from […]

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Ohio State University Medical Center Did Not Violate the ADA in Requiring a Psychiatric Fitness Examination

By on April 8, 2016 in ADA, NJ Workers' Comp with 0 Comments

Sometimes alarming statements made at work justify a fitness examination.  In the case of Barnum v. The Ohio State University Medical Center, 2016 App. LEXIS 2957 (6th Cir. 2016), the plaintiff worked as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.  In 2011, she was having issues at home due to a divorce and other family matters.  A […]

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Answers to Common Questions Regarding Partial Permanent Disability Awards in New Jersey

By on March 28, 2016 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 1 Comment

Permanent partial disability awards are often mysterious, partly because New Jersey compensation is so different from our neighboring states.  For those who are used to the laws in Pennsylvania and New York, permanency awards in New Jersey can make no sense.  Here is a sample of common questions about our system in New Jersey: Question: […]

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School Board Properly Terminated Teacher Who Failed Two Fitness Exams and Who Requested Hiring Part-Time Aide

By on March 18, 2016 in ADA, NJ Workers' Comp with 0 Comments

Reasonable accommodation has its limits as is noted in the case of Belasco v. Warrensville Heights City School District, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 21493 (6th Cir. 2015).  Norma Belasco, a long-time teacher, began to have serious health issues in 2007, starting with renal failure with an eventual kidney transplant in 2013.  She also had heart […]

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Plaintiff Cannot Extinguish Section 40 Lien Rights By Setting Arbitrary Dates To Provide Lien Amounts

The case of Cabrera v. Cousins Supermarket, A-5287-13T1 (App. Div. February 23, 2016) covers a point not previously addressed under N.J.S.A. 34:15-40, the provision dealing with the employer’s subrogation rights to third party recoveries. Jose Cabrera injured his right hand while operating a meat perforating machine and recovered workers’ compensation benefits under an order approving […]

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Federal Court Upholds Wellness Program and Rejects Law Suit Filed By EEOC Challenging Health Risk Assessment Procedures

By on March 3, 2016 in ADA, NJ Workers' Comp with 1 Comment

Wellness programs are becoming a new area of litigation as can be seen in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission  v. Flambeau, Inc., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173482 (W. D. Wisconsin December 31, 2015).  The case involved a manufacturer of plastic products which offered its employees various employee benefits, including participation in a health insurance plan.  Employees […]

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Medicare Revamps the Conditional Payment Process

By Nancy Johnson, Esq. Many of you have been contacted by petitioners’ attorneys about their inability to obtain conditional payments over the past several months due to a revision in Medicare protocols and processes.  This article gives an overview of the changes to the process and we will provide more information as the full extent […]

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School Board Did Not Violate ADA in Non-Renewing Teacher but May Have Violated His FMLA Rights

By on February 19, 2016 in ADA, FMLA, NJ Workers' Comp with 1 Comment

Terrence Preddie was employed from 2010-2011 as a fifth-grade teacher at Columbus Signature-Codrea Elementary School in Indiana.  Dr. Diane Clancy assessed Preddie’s job performance in the first school term as effective in some areas and needing improvement in others.  One specific area where improvement was needed was in leaving organized lesson plans for substitute teachers. […]

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Township Violated ADA in Requiring Employee to Submit to a Fitness Exam Without Showing a Job-Related Reason for Exam

By on February 10, 2016 in ADA, NJ Workers' Comp with 0 Comments

Paul Williams worked for ten years for the Township of Lakewood in the Department of Public Works (DPW).  On March 28, 2013, the Township Manager received an anonymous letter concerning Mr. Williams.  The writer said he was a co-worker and that he and other co-workers were in fear of their safety because Williams allegedly exhibited […]

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Assault Committed by Ex-Husband in Employer Owned Parking Lot Found Not Compensable

By on February 4, 2016 in Compensability, NJ Workers' Comp with 2 Comments

Jennie Rosario worked for the State of New Jersey as a caseworker for the Division of Youth and Family Services.  She left the Division’s Maplewood office intending to get into a State-owned vehicle on May 23, 2006 to perform her duties as a field case-worker.  As she was leaving the office, her ex-husband assaulted her […]

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Can an Employer Fire an Injured Employee on Light Duty and Then Stop Paying Temporary Disability Benefits?

By on January 27, 2016 in Compensability, NJ Workers' Comp with 2 Comments

In an extension of the principle established in Cunningham v. Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co., 386 N.J. Super. 423 (App. Div. 2006), the Appellate Division ruled on January 22, 2016 that an employee who was fired while on light duty was not entitled to temporary disability benefits because the firing was not related to […]

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Federal Court Rejects Summary Judgment for Employer in Disability Discrimination Claim Where Employer Failed to Engage in Interactive Dialogue Until Employee Could Return to Work

By on January 19, 2016 in ADA, NJ Workers' Comp with 0 Comments

Penelope Bertolotti worked for Autozone, Inc. as a Divisional Human Resources Generalist.  She was hired in early 2012 and sought a leave of absence due to personal illness on October 15, 2012.  She returned to work on October 29, 2012 only to request another leave of absence commencing on November 5, 2012.  At first her […]

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