According to a memo released by Alfonso Frioni, Jr., Esquire, Chairman of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB), Commissioner Susan M. McDermott has decided to retire after spending over twenty years on the WCAB, including a stint as the very first female Chairperson of the WCAB. The entire text…
Back in June, 2015, we discussed the Commonwealth Court decision in Duffey v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Trola-Dyne, Inc.). In this decision, which confounded us at the time, the Court said that an injured worker could not successfully expand the description of his or her work injury after an Impairment…
Pennsylvania work-related injuries occur in many forms. We see musculoskeletal trauma, such as a broken wrist or ankle, a herniated disc in the neck or back, or tears in the knee or shoulder, among many others. Neurological injuries also unfortunately happen, and can include Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)/Complex Regional Pain…
On our blog, we have previously discussed cases where the dispute in a case is whether an injured worker was actually engaged in his or her employment duties at the time of the injury (what we call the “scope and course” of their work). As you may have noticed, these…
As we have mentioned, workers’ compensation laws vary widely from State to State, making the selection of which workers’ compensation laws apply to a given case a critical determination. As much as there are things in PA law that benefit the workers’ comp insurance carrier, many aspects of Pennsylvania law…
As noted on our website, generally, an injured worker cannot sue his or her employer for its negligence in causing a work-related injury. Additionally, unlike in a negligence case, workers’ compensation benefits do not include payment for pain and suffering. Occasionally, however, there is another party (a “third party”) that…
To win a contested workers’ compensation case in Pennsylvania, the injured worker must prove that he or she suffered an injury while in the scope and course of employment and that he or she is disabled as a result of such injury. The situation only changes moderately when the injured…
In law, almost every cause of action has a “statute of limitations.” This is simply a time within which a cause of action can be brought. Typically, if a suit or action is not filed within the applicable statute of limitations, the suit or action will be dismissed. Pennsylvania workers’…
A recent study from Northwestern Medicine and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, published in Science Daily, relates that scientists have identified what part of a patient’s brain is triggered during a “placebo effect.” A “placebo” is a “fake medicine,” which can actually cause real pain relief. We have many injured…
When the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided Lewis v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board back in 2007, we attorneys who represent the injured worker thought things had really changed. No longer could the workers’ comp insurance carrier file Termination Petition after Termination Petition in an endless series to evade the payment…