Workers' Compensation Blog | St. Joseph Injury Lawyer

11

Dec 2019

When Can Workers’ Compensation Claims Recover the Costs of the Case?

A workers’ compensation case in Missouri clarifies when one side can be made to pay the court costs and attorney’s fees of the other side. According to the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission, only what happens during the claim for workers’ compensation matters – not anything that happened before the case was filed. Judge Makes Employer Pay Attorney Fees and Court Costs The case, Stratton v. ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

4

Dec 2019

Why Workers’ Compensation Judges’ Beliefs Are Difficult to Appeal

In a recent workers’ compensation blog post, we discussed how administrative law judges weigh the credibility of testifying doctors . In short, it is very easy for these judges to see what they want to see. What an administrative judge wants to see typically aligns with their pro-business or pro-worker political stance, which in turn mirrors the stance of whoever appointed them to their position ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

13

Nov 2019

The Problem With How Administrative Law Judges Determine Credibility

An otherwise innocuous workers’ compensation case highlights one of the ways that the legal system is stilted against injured workers in Missouri. Whenever there are conflicting medical opinions about how a worker got hurt – and there usually are – administrative law judges have to decide which doctor is more credible. Those credibility findings are extremely difficult to overturn on appeal, and ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

30

Oct 2019

Workers’ Compensation Cases and the Rule of Necessity

A recent workers’ compensation case made it to the Missouri Court of Appeals. In the case, Nivens v. Interstate Brands Corp. , an injured worker applied to the Second Injury Fund for compensation after workplace injuries coupled with older medical conditions to make him unable to function on the job. The case is a rare one that revolves around the Rule of Necessity, which allows even conflicted ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

16

Oct 2019

OSHA Continues to Give Workplace Safety Powers to Employers

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is said to be investigating a fatal workplace accident in St. Joseph. The role of OSHA in that investigation, though, has been shrinking to dangerously narrow proportions in recent years, as the agency pushes more and more responsibility onto employers. When employers investigate fatal accidents at their plants, the losers are the employees. ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

2

Oct 2019

Missouri Workers’ Compensation, Frolics, and Detours

One of the most important limitations about workers’ compensation coverage is that it only applies to injuries you suffer on the job . In our last workers’ compensation post, we wondered whether a postal worker was still “on the job” when their mail truck was hit by a school bus . It was 5pm, and many jobs have set hours, so if the mail carrier was working past shutdown, they could have a tough ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

18

Sep 2019

Workers’ Compensation Questions After Mail Truck Hits School Bus

A crash between a school bus and a mail truck in Kansas City raises some important questions about workers’ compensation law in Missouri. School Bus and Mail Truck Collide in Missouri The crash happened around 5pm on Tuesday, September 17, 2019. According to police, the mail truck and a school bus hit each other at the intersection of Delmar Lane and 103 rd Street , just over the border in Kansas. ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

4

Sep 2019

Workers’ Compensation Claim Leads to Firing in St. Joseph

A former worker at Mosaic Life Care is suing the St. Joseph hospital for firing her. She claims that her discharge was done in retaliation for reporting a workplace injury . As we have discussed in earlier blog posts, she will have an uphill battle under a workers’ compensation law that has been stilted in favor of her employer. St. Joseph Hospital Worker Claims She Was Fired for Reporting an ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

21

Aug 2019

Workers’ Compensation Denied Because Accident Happened While Walking

In our last workers’ compensation post, we covered a disturbing case where a decision by the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission was overturned on appeal for a rare credibility problem . The Commission’s denial of workers’ coverage was disturbing because of how blatantly it disregarded testimony by the injured worker. But that was not the only disturbing part of the Commission’s decision. ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

7

Aug 2019

Workers’ Compensation Case Overturned on Appeal for Rare Credibility Problem

An appeals court in Missouri overturned a workers’ compensation decision that denied coverage for a high school teacher’s injuries. The reasons why the workers’ compensation was originally denied, though, raises some serious questions about how these cases are being decided in Missouri. High School Teacher Falls, Gets Hurt, and Is Denied Workers’ Compensation On January 8, 2013, an ESL teacher ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

24

Jul 2019

Do Employers Have to Pay for Second Injury Fund Injuries, Now?

The dust is beginning to settle from the fallout of the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision in the workers’ compensation case, Cosby v. Treasurer of Missouri . Perhaps the most interesting possibility is that the Supreme Court has made employers liable for injuries that would have been covered by Missouri’s Second Injury Fund . Missouri Supreme Court Strictly Construes Workers’ Compensation Laws ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

10

Jul 2019

Workers’ Compensation and Separation of Powers

A workers’ compensation case from Florida is being appealed to the state’s supreme court. While the case comes from Florida, its claims could impact the process of Missouri’s workers’ compensation laws because of similarities in our workers’ compensation systems. Failed Shoulder Surgery Leads to Numerous Medical Opinions The victim was an elementary school worker who partially tore her rotator ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

12

Jun 2019

Shifts in Politics and Workers’ Compensation Law

Each state has its own laws and regulations that deal with workers’ compensation . Some states tilt the law more towards hurt workers, while others favor business interests, like in Missouri. As the political atmosphere changes, workers’ compensation laws tend to follow. The state of Maine is going through just such a change, now. Amendments to the state’s workers’ compensation structure are ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

29

May 2019

Workers’ Compensation Trial After Bulldozing Death

A trial in California is going to settle some important questions about workers’ compensation in the state. Workers’ Compensation Trial Over Death of Firefighter On trial is Ian Czirban , the owner of Czirban Concrete Construction. His company contracted with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to provide firefighting services during the Big Sur Fire back in 2016. ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

15

May 2019

What is the Workers’ Compensation Trade-Off?

We frequently refer to workers’ compensation in Missouri as a “trade-off” involving employers and employees. But what gets traded, and why? What Employees Give Up for Workers’ Compensation The biggest thing that employees give up is their ability to sue their employers in court with a personal injury lawsuit . In many workplace injury situations, the employer contributed to the injury at least in ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

1

May 2019

Workers Hurt in Rural Areas More Likely to Be Prescribed Opioids

A study investigating workers’ compensation in Missouri found that injured workers in rural areas were more likely to be prescribed opioids than urban workers. The discrepancy is not insignificant, though there are numerous factors that could be in play. Study Investigates Opioid Prescriptions After Workplace Injuries The study was conducted by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute . It ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

17

Apr 2019

2 Filing Deadlines for Workers’ Compensation Claims

In many ways, workers’ compensation claims are even more complex than typical personal injury claims. While the workers’ compensation scheme is designed to streamline the process of recovering compensation, it often involves more paperwork. Worse, that paperwork comes from both you and your employer, and goes to both your employer and the Missouri Department of Labor . Even the deadlines can be ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

3

Apr 2019

Can Flooding Volunteers Get Workers’ Compensation?

As record flooding continues in and around St. Joseph, Missouri, volunteers have scrambled to help those affected. One way volunteers have helped is by filling sandbags in the worst-hit areas of Missouri. Unfortunately, filling sandbags is not light work, and volunteers – especially those unfamiliar with the work – frequently get hurt doing it. This raises the question: Are volunteers covered by ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

20

Mar 2019

Workers’ Compensation Insurance to Decrease 3.5%

The costs of workers’ compensation insurance premiums continue to drop. The steady decline is just another sign of the difficulties that injured workers face after they get hurt on the job. How Workers’ Compensation Insurance Works When workers get hurt while on the job, they can often file a workers’ compensation claim with their employer. If approved, this claim will lead to payments that cover ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

6

Mar 2019

Workers’ Compensation May Get Firefighter’s Presumption

A new bill is making its way through the Missouri Legislature that would change workers’ compensation law to better cover firefighters, who have a heightened risk of job-related cancer. House Bill 1641 Would Extend Firefighter Presumption to Workers’ Compensation Law We covered the presumptive disability law for firefighters earlier in our blog. This law, Missouri Statute 87.006 , presumes that ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

6

Feb 2019

Workers’ Compensation for Pedestrian Hit in Parking Lot?

A pedestrian was hit and seriously hurt in a parking lot in Raytown, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. Details surrounding the car accident suggest that workers’ compensation will also become implicated. Pedestrian Hit in School Parking Lot The incident happened early in the morning of February 6, 2019. According to initial reports, a 69-year-old woman was hit in the parking lot of a school in ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

30

Jan 2019

Another Workplace Safety Rule Quietly and Quickly Scrapped

Despite the government shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget was able to jam through a huge change to a critical regulation that protects workplace safety. The timing and the speed with which the amendments were made are suspicious, and the impact on workplace accidents and workers’ compensation are significant. The Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Rule One of the ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

23

Jan 2019

Second Injury Fund Case Reaches Missouri Supreme Court

The Missouri Supreme Court is currently deciding how to rule on a case that challenges Senate Bill 1 – a piece of legislation from 2014 that drastically altered how the Second Injury Fund works. How the court handles the case will significantly impact the workers’ compensation rights of everyone in St. Joseph and the rest of Missouri. An Overview of the Second Injury Fund We covered the Second ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

9

Jan 2019

Workers’ Compensation Hurt by Another Arbitration Clause Case

A recent Missouri Supreme Court case deals yet another blow to workers’ rights, and potentially to their workers’ compensation rights, by strengthening the power of arbitration clauses in employment contracts. Worker Signs Arbitration Clause, Gets Fired, Tries to Sue The case is Soars v. Easter Seals Midwest . In it, the employer hired the worker as an at-will employee. In order to be hired, ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

26

Dec 2018

Hurdles in Workers’ Compensation Laws on Display in New Case

A new workers’ compensation case from the Missouri Court of Appeals highlights how the law can seem like a maze. It also showcases how difficult it has become to prevent businesses from abusing loopholes in a system that has become designed to protect them. Spouse of Killed Worker Wins Death Benefits The situation involved a lab technologist who worked for the Capital Region Medical Center from ...

Posted By Smith Law Office