CO - Accident Compensation Act Exclusive Remedy for Inmate Bitten by Dog
01/20/2026 | 0
The Inmate Accident Compensation Act is the exclusive remedy for a man bitten by a dog while working in a Bureau of Prisons training program, the U.S. District Court for Colorado ruled.
The Bureau of Prisons and the nonprofit Dancing Dog Rescue and Recovery Ranch operated a dog training program at the federal correctional facility in Englewood. Inmates were paid by the Bureau of Prisons at the bureau's sole discretion to consider the project a work assignment. An agreement between the bureau and the rescue said the Inmate Accident Compensation Act is the exclusive remedy for injuries caus...
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The Connecticut Appellate Court tossed a worker’s appeal challenging the propriety of an attorney’s use of surveillance footage in defending his employer from his workers’ compensation claims.
Case: Ferrua v. Napoli Foods Inc., No. AC47975, 12/30/2025, published.
Facts: Elton Ferrua worked for Napoli Foods Inc. He filed two workers’ compensation claims against Napoli for injuries he allegedly sustained in March and April 2011.
Attorney Dominick Statile of Montstream Law Group LLP was assigned to defend Napoli.
Statile scheduled a medical examination by Dr. Ste...
A New York appellate court overturned a grant of summary judgment for a worker who slipped and fell in a dimly lit room.
Case: Joseph v. Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, No. 158336/21, 12/28/2025, published.
Facts: Capil Joseph slipped and fell on water that leaked from a ceiling pipe in a dimly lit mechanical room while on his way to his work area.
The mechanical room, located on the top floor of the building and accessible only by elevator, had two doors leading to the roof.
Before starting work, Joseph signed papers in the illuminated portion of the room where he c...
A divided Ohio appellate court upheld the dismissal of an injured corrections officer’s claims against her employer, finding her claims had to be arbitrated pursuant to the terms of a collective bargaining agreement that governed her employment.
Case: Bleise v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, No. 24AP-567, 12/30/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Karen Bleise worked as a corrections officer for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. She filed a complaint against the department, asserting that she suffered serious and permanent injuries from ...
If the past few years have taught attorneys one thing about artificial intelligence, it’s that they should not trust AI for case citations.
In December 2025, a friendly neighborhood judge asked if I had heard about the latest decision imposing sanctions for faulty citations. To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure about this most recent case, only because there were so many in recent years.
For example, the California Applicants' Attorneys Association wrote about one such case in September. And then WorkCompAcademy wrote about a similar, but different, case ...
A Louisiana appellate court vacated an award of damages to a crane operator due to procedural errors and deficiencies in the trial court’s judgments.
Case: Finney v. Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, No. 2025-CA-0423, 01/07/2026, published.
Facts: Darre Finney, a crane operator, sustained injuries while loading a vessel at the Nashville Avenue Terminal at the Port of New Orleans.
A volatile storm arose, causing blinding rain and intense winds, but Finney continued to work until strong winds pushed his crane downriver and slammed him around inside the cab of the c...
A bill in Georgia would exempt what can best be described as "gig economy" nurses from the definition of "employee" for workers' compensation purposes.
HB 991, introduced Thursday by Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, resembles a health care industry version of HB 339, a 2022 bill that Georgia lawmakers passed to define as contractors those who work for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and similar companies.
HB 991 would apply to companies such as CareRev, Clipboard Health and NurseDash, which allow nurses, assistants and other providers to pick up shifts on de...
Arizona lawmakers introduced language that would explicitly state that adenocarcinoma is covered by a presumption that cancer is an occupational disease for certain first responders, targeting the latest technical argument insurers have used to challenge claims.
Current law presumes that brain, bladder and colorectal cancer, as well as "leukemia or adenocarcinoma or mesothelioma of the respiratory tract," arose from employment for firefighters and peace officers.
The Arizona Industrial Commission, in a January 2025 substantive policy statement, said adenocarcinoma must be...
NE - Bill Would Require Payment for Interpreters
A bill in Nebraska would require employers to pay for interpreters for injured workers who cannot readily communicate in English or another language spoken by a medical provider.
Under changes proposed in LB 1056, introduced Wednesday, employers would be responsible for “all reasonable costs of interpretation services” related to medical, surgical or hospital care when an employee cannot readily understand or communicate in the language the provider uses.
The provision would apply within the state’s workers' compensation system and is intended to ensure that injure...
Sacramento, CA [December 10, 2025] Today, POWER proudly announced its official launch as a laser-focused non-profit organized to take direct action against fraud and criminal activity in California's temporary staffing industry.
"One of the biggest crimes taking place in California's workforce is hiding in plain sight. The temporary staffing industry has become a largely unregulated playground for cri...
A divided Ohio appellate court ruled that a company that sold its assets to a new owner was entitled to receive the workers’ compensation policy dividend checks paid to the successor under the terms of the asset sale agreement.
Benie Logistics Inc. purchased a FedEx trucking and delivery business from Momentum Freight Logistics Corp. for $1.675 million.
The purchase agreement identified certain assets as excluded from the sale, including any workers’ compensation premium dividend reimbursement for the policy period from July 1, 2019, through July 1, 2020, and for the policy ...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals overturned a denial of authorization for a worker’s shoulder surgery, finding the Board of Review failed to weigh the relevance, credibility, materiality or reliability of the evidence.
Case: Scott v. ACNR Resources Inc., No. 25-ICA-175 and No. 25-ICA-208, 12/22/2025, published.
Facts: Paul Scott worked as a maintenance mechanic and electrician for ACNR Resources Inc. He allegedly suffered injuries to his elbow after a fall at work on Oct. 31, 2023.
Scott sought medical treatment, and he was diagnosed with a sprain of the left ...
A New York appellate court ruled that a Labor Law defendant was entitled to summary judgment dismissing the claims for indemnification and contribution against it.
Case: Synysta v. 450 Partners LLC, No. 2021-04274, 12/17/2025, published.
Facts: Volodmyr Synysta worked for Bond Painting Co. Inc. He allegedly suffered a shock and fell off a scaffold after coming into contact with an electrical box while working at a construction site in November 2022.
Coach Inc. leased the site in a building owned by 450 Partners LLC. The ACC Construction Corp. was the general contractor for the project....
The Oregon Court of Appeals overturned an award of fees to an injured worker, finding the Workers’ Compensation Board did not adequately explain its reduction from the requested sum of $27,454.80 to $7,000.
Case: Acuna v. SAIF Corp., No. 1105, 12/24/2025, published.
Facts and procedural history: Mark Acuna worked for First City Painting. He established a workers’ compensation claim and the requested $27,454.80 in fees.
The Workers’ Compensation Board awarded only $7,000.
Analysis: The Oregon Court of Appeals said that the board is statutorily obligated to “award rea...
A Missouri lawmaker introduced a bill that would allow certain nondependent family members to collect benefits that had accrued but not been paid before a worker died from causes unrelated to his or her claim.
Missouri law declares that a worker's death does not affect the liability of the employer to provide compensation that has accrued and become payable at the time of death. Accrued and unpaid compensation shall be paid to the injured worker's dependents or a personal representative.
HB 2983 would also allow benefits to be paid to family members, which would be defined to include...
Roughly four in 10 lost-time workers' compensation claims involved at least one injectable drug or procedure within 24 months of injury, and costs for self-administered drugs, such as those used for weight loss, doubled in six years, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.
The report examines injectable therapies across 28 states, including both clinician-administered procedures — such as epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks and joint injections — and self-administered injectable medications. Waltham, Massachusetts-based WCRI found that in...
A Nebraska lawmaker on Wednesday introduced legislation that would specify how losses are counted for experience rating purposes on deductible workers' compensation policies.
Nebraska law requires comp carriers to offer a $500 to $2,000 deductible for medical benefits and allows them to offer a deductible for up to 40% of the employer's annual premium.
While state law requires carriers to write and report deductible workers’ compensation policies in a way that is compatible with Nebraska’s uniform experience rating system, it doesn’t explicitly say how deductible re...
