Post-Injury Misconduct Defense Gets Huge Expansion

Missouri employers often try to get out of making temporary disability payments to injured employees by claiming that the worker engaged in post-injury misconduct. A new workers’ compensation decision drastically expands this defense. Injured Worker Accused of Misconduct The case is Paxton v. Little Sisters of the Poor . In January, 2014, a nurse slipped on ice in the parking lot of the nursing ...

Vehicle Size Likely Influenced Fatal Car Crash

A deadly car accident between Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri, is a perfect example of how the size of the vehicles can change the severity of the crash. Accident Involving Ford F750 Pickup Truck Proves Fatal The crash happened on U.S. 45 near the town of Farley, just northwest of Kansas City and 40 miles south of St. Joseph. According to the initial reports of the crash , a southbound Ford ...

Child Victims and Lost Earning Capacity Damages

A serious car accident in northwestern Missouri left seven injured early this week, including several children. One of those children has serious injuries, which can make it critical for her to recover compensation for lost earning capacity. Car Veers Off Road, Hits Family Minivan The accident happened on I-35 on Sunday morning, January 3, 2021, a few miles north of Pattonsburg , about an hour ...

Statutory Employer Claims and the Usual Course of Business Defense

In our last blog post about workers’ compensation , we looked at what it means to be a “statutory employee” in Missouri . However, it is not easy for an injured worker to prove that they were a statutory employee. Not only do they have the burden of proving that they are a statutory employee, they also have to overcome the defenses that companies vigorously raise to avoid liability, such as the ...