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Case Summaries

Workers' Comp

[12/30] Bullock v. AIU Ins. Co.
In a lawsuit alleging bad-faith failure to timely pay workers' compensation benefits, summary judgment for defendants is reversed and remanded in light of a Mississippi Supreme Court determination that the suit was timely filed.

[12/19] Southwestern Bell Tel. Co., L.P. v. Mitchell
In a worker's compensation claim, grant of summary judgment in favor of respondent-decedent is reversed where: 1) the rule announced in Continental Casualty Co. v. Downs was in effect for only about one year; and 2) it was wrongly decided.

[12/18] Ioerger v. Halverson Const. Co., Inc.
The immunity afforded to an employer by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305/5(a), 11 (West 2000)) extends to the employer's co-venturer in a joint venture and to the joint venture itself.

[12/16] Hertz v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Bd.
In a worker's compensation claim, an award determined by respondent-Board is reversed and remanded where: 1) victim-employee's permanent disability should have been rated using the 1997 rating schedule rather than the 2005 rating schedule; 2) a finding of permanent total disability was not appropriate in this case; 3) under the revised worker's compensation system an employer is liable for only the portion of an injured worker's permanent disability that is directly caused by the industrial injury; 4) a finding of permanent total disability in employee's case was based in part on a finding that vocational rehabilitation was not feasible due in part to pre-existing nonindustrial factors; and thus, 5) company was not liable for that portion of victim-employee's permanent disability that was caused by pre-existing nonindustrial factors.

[12/11] Protocols, LLC v. Leavitt
In a declaratory-judgment action brought by a company and law firm that provide consulting services for the settlement of workers' compensation claims, claiming that a government memorandum issued in 2005 misinterprets the Medicare statute and regulations and exposes plaintiffs to unexpected liabilities, summary judgment for defendants is reversed where the district court erred in finding plaintiffs lacked standing for their suit as their potential liability presents a sufficient injury to confer standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

[09/25] Sanders v. City of Orlando
In a workers' compensation case, reversal of vacatur of a prior settlement agreement by a Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) is quashed where a 2001 statutory change did not strip JCCs of jurisdiction to set aside workers' compensation agreements. (Revised opinion)

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