An Illinois appeals panel has upheld a Cook County judge’s ruling, which cleared Chicago police of causing the deaths of patrons by preventing them from leaving the E2 nightclub in Chicago during a stampede there in 2003 that took 21 lives and injured more than 50. The April 30 decision was authored by Justice Mary Mikva, with concurrence from Justices…
A woman who claimed she was injured when she fell from a shaky bleacher at the Monon Community Center in Carmel sued the proper parties too late for her claim to proceed, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed Monday. Pamela Webb claimed that as she was walking down the bleachers, the bottom step slid, causing her to fall to the…
Illinois’ House of Representatives has passed a bill that would create a state-monitored insurance company with the intention of driving down workers’ compensation insurance costs in the state. The House voted 62-43 on a plan that would establish an independent underwriter with a $10 million state loan. It would act as an insurance company in the market and pay back…
Ohio in January became the 36th state to allow firefighters who are diagnosed with certain cancers to file for workers compensation, and so far two more states are seeing proposals for certain cancers suffered by firefighters to be compensable. With presumption laws in place, firefighters who suffer from certain cancers can claim workers comp if they meet certain requirements, which…
A woman who drove drunk into a mobile home causing significant damage lost her appeal Wednesday after arguing the state’s blood draw occurred outside the three-hour window under statute and thus did not prove her blood alcohol level at the time of the accident. Elberta N. Jackson was convicted of Class A misdemeanors operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration…
A trial court erred in ordering a new trial after a jury returned a general verdict in favor of the estate of an electrician who wired a barn where a teenager was electrocuted in 2010, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday. A Noble County jury ruled in favor of the estate of Gary Pfafman, who had years earlier assisted…
The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether employers can require workers to sign arbitration agreements that prevent them from pursuing group claims in court. The justices agreed to consider an issue affecting millions of workers who have signed forms waiving rights to bring class-action lawsuits over unpaid overtime, wage disputes and other workplace clashes. Businesses have increasingly…
A study on painkillers and how they affect a workers’ compensation claim found that an injured worker who’s prescribed opioids often stays that on disability much longer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, medical providers wrote nearly a quarter of a billion opioid prescriptions in 2013, enough for every American adult to have their own bottle of…
The idea that the costs for caring for injured workers have shifted to Social Security Disability Insurance is being disputed by a recent study conducted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. The study, released March 26, is focused on the interaction between SSDI and workers compensation benefits and explores cost-shifting that may occur between the two programs. “There…
The Workers' Compensation Board of Indiana has released new guidelines for nurse case managers and will soon unveil new protocols for disputed claim settlement documents. With fewer hearings and more settlements, "the legal environment surrounding Indiana workers' compensation cases is changing," the board announced this week. Documents submitted for approval in disputed claims, also known as "C" claims, will need to go the…
