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OSHA Is Considering New Reporting Procedures for Employers for Work Injuries

By on September 4, 2014 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 1 Comment

Employers continue to deal with federal intrusions in workers’ compensation: the Medicare Secondary Payer Statute and now new rules being considered by OSHA.  On November 8, 2013, OSHA published a notice of proposed rule-making to amend the agency’s regulations on reporting injuries and illnesses. OSHA is concerned that injury reporting may be inaccurate because employers […]

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Appellate Division Reverse Large Award to Claimant with PTSD Post-September 11, 2001

Appellate Division Reverse Large Award to Claimant with PTSD Post-September 11, 2001

Inez Graham worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  She began her employment in June, 1987 as a toll collector.  She was injured in 1989 when she slipped and fell while working at the Holland Tunnel.  She received an award in 1993 of 30% partial permanent disability for her left leg […]

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Carrier that Mistakenly Represented Employer Cannot Use Comp Court to Obtain Reimbursement

Carrier that Mistakenly Represented Employer Cannot Use Comp Court to Obtain Reimbursement

Shaun Cronrath, a Burlington County College employee, was injured at work when he was attacked by a fan while coaching a basketball game.  He filed a claim petition, and Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America (hereinafter “Travelers”) filed an answer on behalf of the College.  Travelers negotiated a settlement of $35,000 on behalf of the […]

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Senate Passes Bill to Eliminate Voluntary Offer Credits Due Employers in New Jersey

The New Jersey Senate passed S374 by a vote of 23-12 on Monday, June 30, 2014.  The bill effectively ends the benefit that employers obtain from making voluntary offers of permanency under N.J.S.A. 34:15-64. New Jersey has an unusual practice of requiring employers to pay 60% of the attorney’s fee of the claimant in an […]

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Appellate Court Defers to Compensation Judge on Assessment of Partial Permanent Disability

One of the most challenging aspects of New Jersey workers’ compensation practice is estimating the level of permanent partial disability, particularly in a system in which the evaluating physicians have such disparate estimates.  The New Jersey Division of Workers’ Compensation does not use AMA Guidelines, which makes it even harder to reconcile widely diverging medical […]

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Law Suit Improperly Filed in Civil Court Could Not Be Transferred to Division of Workers’ Compensation

Law Suit Improperly Filed in Civil Court Could Not Be Transferred to Division of Workers’ Compensation

Sometimes attorneys, unfamiliar with workers’ compensation, file civil suits that really belong in the Division of Workers’ Compensation.  That was the situation in Garofalo v. East Whitehouse Fire Department, A-3649-12T2, A-4687-12T2, (App.Div.March 28, 2014). The case began with an injury on March 11, 2009 to Anthony Garofalo, who was a podiatric surgeon in New York […]

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Worker With a Severe Eye Injury Was a Special Employee and Could Not Sue His Joint Employer

Worker With a Severe Eye Injury Was a Special Employee and Could Not Sue His Joint Employer

There are many instances in which an injured worker argues that he was not employed so as to be able to bring a negligence action.  The case of Hernandez v. Port Logistics, A-3558-12T3 (App. Div. 2014) illustrates this situation. Daniel Hernandez was placing a box onto a load of pallets on August 23, 2011, when […]

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Major NLRB Decision Finds Scholarship College Football Players Are Employees

Major NLRB Decision Finds Scholarship College Football Players Are Employees

Readers should be aware of a potential landmark decision from the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, March 26, 2014, in which the NLRB found that the Division I football players receiving scholarships at Northwestern University are employees of the university under the National Labor Relations Act.  It is anticipated that the decision will be […]

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Petitioner Prevails in Alleged Traumatic Injury Claim Even Though Pleadings Were Filed as Occupational In Nature

By on December 20, 2013 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

It is not uncommon for a claimant to file an occupational disease claim but then at trial attempt to prove a case that is much more like a traumatic injury claim.  The reverse is also sometimes true.  How do courts treat these shifting proofs? In Rivera v. United Parcel Service, the claimant began with UPS […]

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New Ligament in Knee May Be Cause of Complications Post-Surgery

By on December 6, 2013 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

By Ian Zolty, Esq. Have you ever heard of the anterolateral ligament? If you have not, don’t feel bad because almost no one was aware of it until recent months. The research of two orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Steven Claes and Dr. Johan Bellemans from University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, may be breaking new ground in […]

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Appellate Division Appears To Upend Established Case Law On Medical Liens In Workers’ Comp Car Accident Cases

By on November 19, 2013 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

In one of the most puzzling decisions in decades dealing with N.J.S.A. 34:15-40, the court in Dever v. New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, 2013 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2553, (App. Div. October 23, 2013) ruled that respondent has no lien on the medical portion of a third party claim against a UM or UIM carrier. […]

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Woman Who Cleaned Medical Office Was Employed by Both Father and Son Physicians and Could Not Sue Either for Negligence

By on November 7, 2013 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

June Chalmers worked at a medical office, cleaning the office space with another colleague.  On August 20, 2010, she fell on a piece of pipe while at work and suffered injuries which led to serious infections.  Chalmers did not file a workers’ compensation claim and obtained treatment on her own.  However, she did file a […]

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Delays Doom Continental Employee’s Workers’ Comp Claim

By on October 31, 2013 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Smile Alvarez worked as an International Service Manager for Continental Airlines.  He flew to Quito, Ecuador on October 21, 2001 and went to check his door to make sure it was in the disarm position.  On entering the airplane’s galley, he tripped and did a near somersault, striking his head, shoulders and neck on the […]

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Employer Is Entitled to Reimbursement of Lien Even If Comp Case Is Ultimately Found Not Compensable

By on October 21, 2013 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 1 Comment

New Jersey has a very powerful subrogation provision.  That message was emphasized in Greene v. AIG Casualty Company, A-6287-11T4 (App.Div. October 16, 2013), a published decision rendered by the Appellate Division.  It does not matter that the compensation case is ultimately found non-compensable: the employer still can enforce its lien rights as to prior payments […]

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Intentional Harm Suit in Death Case Rejected as Barred by the Exclusivity Provision in Workers’ Compensation

By on October 11, 2013 in NJ Workers' Comp, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Once again a plaintiff has failed to get past the exclusivity provision in the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act.  In Estate of Samuel Sellino and Phyllis Sellino v. Pinto Brothers Disposal, LLC., A-2064-12T1 (App. Div. September 23, 2013), the Appellate Division considered whether an employer could be sued for allegedly removing or bypassing a neutral […]

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