Key Defenses
Appellate Division Rejects Argument That Employee Was On A Special Mission And Was Compelled To Report To A Training Meeting
A key doctrine in the law known as “respondeat superior” provides that an employer is responsible for the acts of its employees performed within the course of their employment. Whether that doctrine applied to an employee who had a motor vehicle accident after being summoned to a training meeting was the issue in Samol v. […]
First NJ Workers Compensation Appellate Opinion On Opioid Use Is Approved For Publication
The case of Martin v. Newark Public Schools was the subject of an earlier blog on October 7, 2019. At the time of that blog, the case had not been approved for publication. On December 13, 2019, the Committee on Publications decided to approve Martin for publication. It is now the only published decision in […]
Employee of Temp Agency Was Barred from Suing Client Company
When individuals work for staffing agencies, interesting legal questions often arise. In Uribe v. Quartz Master, A-4071-17T1 (App. Div. May 2, 2019), Alberto Uribe was injured working for On Target Staffing, LLC, a job placement agency. On Target had a “Temporary Employee Work Agreement” with Quartz Master, where it placed Uribe. That agreement provided that […]
Understanding The Idiopathic Defense
We hear the term “idiopathic claim” quite frequently in workers’ compensation, but what does it really mean? To begin with, “idiopathic” is a combination of two Greek words: “idio” relating to “one’s own” and “pathic” suggesting suffering or disease. It has come to mean any disease or condition of unknown cause. Lawyers and practitioners have […]
Discovery Rule Keeps Alive Plaintiff’s Medical Malpractice Case and Respondent’s Lien Rights
Lynda Ferrari was injured at work falling down steps in April 2006. She sought treatment for her right knee and lower back. Dr. Joan O’Shea performed authorized surgery to address Ferrari’s right-sided herniated discs at L4-5 and L5-S1. Ferrari experienced increased pain following surgery. She saw multiple physicians after the surgery, seeking relief for her […]
The Underutilized and Underappreciated Defense of Lack of Timely Notice
Some defenses, like the going-and-coming rule, get all the attention but there are other less well known defenses, like lack of timely notice, which can be very powerful as a defense in workers’ compensation. One of the reasons that the notice defense is often ignored in New Jersey is its peculiar wording. It has three […]
New York Staffing Company’s Carrier Must Pay Workers’ Comp for Injury In New Jersey Even Though the Policy Specified Solely New York Locations
Cases involving temporary staffing agencies and professional employer organizations often lead to unusual and complex legal issues in workers’ compensation. The recent case of Detres v. Workforce Logistics Corp., A-4963-15T1 (App. Div. August 25, 2017) illustrates this point quite well by delving deeply into coverage and conflicts of law issues in a very high exposure […]
UPS Prevails By Means of Occupational Statute of Limitations Defense on Claim for Bilateral Knee Replacement Surgery
The best defense against an occupational disease claim is often the statute of limitations. That is how the employer won in Mara v. United Parcel Service, A-3691-15T4 (App. Div. August 4, 2017). The case involved a package car driver named Craig Mara who began working for UPS in 1983. He filed a claim petition in […]
County GPS System Defeats Petitioner’s Comp Claim on Appeal
A good Global Positioning System can make all the difference in certain kinds of cases. Longstreet v. County of Mercer, A-3361-152 (App. Div. June 20, 2017) illustrates how effective this technology can be for claims involving injuries while driving work vehicles. The case involved a claim by a heavy equipment operator against the County of […]
The Going-And-Coming Rule And Multiple Employer Work Sites
An employee works regularly in Cherry Hill, N.J. but three or four times a year is required to work at the company’s north Jersey location in Parsippany. On the way to the Parsippany office, the employee is in a car accident and suffers serious injuries. The employer gets the claim and confers with the carrier […]
Job Description Of Sales Person Did Not State Driving Was An Essential Function So Jury Must Decide Whether Company Should Accommodate Request for Driver
Employers must carefully view job descriptions because ADA law suits often turn on the wording of those job descriptions. In Stephenson v. Pfizer, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 3863 (4th Cir. 2016), a long-time sales person for Pfizer developed vision problems which disqualified her from driving. Stephenson had been an extremely successful sales representative who had […]
Employee Can Proceed on ADA Claim That He Was Discriminated Against on Account of Severe Obesity
Mark Richardson worked for the Chicago Transit Authority as a Bus Operator from 1999 to 2012. He took an extended medical leave from work and attempted to return to his job in September 2010. The Authority sent plaintiff for a fitness exam, and the doctor cleared Richardson to return to work. He was next required […]
Understanding Idiopathic Claims and How to Prove the Defense
The term “idiopathic defense” is widely misunderstood. Practitioners need to appreciate when the defense applies and who has the burden of proving an idiopathic defense. In New Jersey, and in most states, the burden is on the employer to prove an idiopathic defense. The word “idiopathic” comes from the Greek: “idios” meaning one’s own, and […]
Appellate Court Refines Rules on Workers’ Compensation Lien Rights
The case of Jose Moreira v. Carlos Peixoto, et. al., A-5741-12T1 (App. Div. September 10, 2015) presents a complex tale of insurance fraud that ends with an important clarification about the lien rights of an employer and the potential challenges to lien calculations by employees. Jose Moreira was injured working privately on a house owned […]
Court Holds that Need for Knee Treatment Is Not Related to Prior Work-Related Meniscal Repair but to Preexisting Arthritis
Employers always struggle with this dilemma: if a claimant receives an award for knee surgery related to a repair of a torn meniscus, does that mean that future knee treatment for arthritis in the knee must be the responsibility of the employer? This issue arises often when the subject at issue is a possible total […]
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