If you are at risk of losing your job or you’ve been told that you’re no longer needed in your workplace, it’s important to know what your rights are. When you know what you’re legally entitled to, as well as how to take action against your former employers, you’ll be able to take a proactive […]
Bean Counter Worker’s Compensation Doctor Never Sees Patient About Whose Care He Dictates.
A worker’s compensation doctor provided a man with a psychotropic medication. Another doctor, an anesthesiologist, who had never seen the patient, determined the drug was unnecessary and decertified it for use. Typically a person gradually withdraws from the drug, but in the present case, it was suddenly stopped and the man suffered four seizures, resulting […]
A Homeowner’s Nightmare.
Plaintiff was employed by a painting contractor which contracted with homeowners to paint the interior of their home. An hour into the job, plaintiff was injured when he fell 12-15 feet from a ladder provided by the contractor. It turns out that the painting contractor had informed the State he had no employees and was exempted from the requirement of having workers’ compensation coverage.
Report Of Privately Retained Expert No Good In Workers’ Compensation Case.
In a Workers’ Compensation action, the injured worker hired her own psychological expert at her own expense, but he Workers’ Compensation Board found the report of the doctor was inadmissible.
Summary Judgment Reversed.
Plaintiff lived in a State-owned rental unit on the grounds of San Quentin prison, and he walked from his residence to the prison building where he worked. One day, a concrete step on a staircase collapsed underneath him and he suffered injuries in a fall. He filed a lawsuit and the trial court granted the […]
Trial Court Properly Denied Anti-SLAPP Motion Of Lawyers.
Two lawyers represented a man injured in a vehicular collision in the underlying action. The defendant in that action was in the course and scope of his business and was insured. The plaintiff and defendant in the underlying action agreed to settle their dispute for policy limits of $100,000. The plaintiff in the current action […]
Previously we reported: No Loss Of Consortium Claim Under Labor Code § 4558. The same case was again before the Court of Appeal.
Where an employee is injured in the course and scope of his or her employment, workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy of the employee and his or her dependents against the employer. (Lab. Code §§ 3600, subd. (a), 3602.) Labor Code section 4558 authorizes an injured worker to bring a civil action for tort […]
Personal Injury Practice Is Quite Complicated Indeed.
A plaintiffs’ law firm filed a personal injury accident in court against a defendant who allegedly caused a vehicle collision. The defendant driver had $100,000 in liability coverage. The injured plaintiff’s employer’s workers’ compensation carrier filed a complaint in intervention, contending the benefits it paid exceeded $100,000, and asserted a right to reimbursement. When the […]
Exercise Can Be Rewarding.
An off-duty correctional officer was injured while doing jumping jacks exercise at home, and filed a worker’s compensation claim. Labor Code section 3600(a)(9), forecloses work comp coverage for an injury that arises out of “voluntary participation in any off-duty recreational, social, or athletic activity not constituting part of the employee’s work-related duties, except where these […]
California Evidence Code Privilege Statutes Apply In Workers’ Compensation Proceedings.
At some point in a workers’ compensation proceeding, the injured worker noticed the deposition of the claims adjuster and requested unprivileged documents. The employer produced a privilege log, identifying certain documents contained in the claims file as exempt from disclosure under “one or more privileges recognized by California Evidence Code.” At the claims adjuster’s deposition, […]