- “McConnell Demands Liability Protections in Next Coronavirus Bill” [Steven T. Dennis, Billy House, and Laura Litvan, Bloomberg; U.S. Chamber issue list] “Businesses Fear Lawsuits from Sick Employees, Patrons After Reopening” [Erik Larson, Edvard Pettersson and Christopher Yasiejko, Bloomberg] “Frivolous Litigators Bite the Hands That Care for Them” [Veronique de Rugy] “States pass lawsuit-protection measures as Pennsylvania resists” [Nicholas Malfitano, Legal Newsline]
- Retroactive workers’ comp coverage for the virus by state decree? Illinois commission beats hasty retreat after gesture in that direction [Susanne Sclafane (presumption of compensability) and Stephanie Jones/Insurance Journal, Angela Childers/Business Insurance (vote to pull back from idea was unanimous)
- White House executive order declaring emergency federal authority over meatpacking industry might have been welcomed by companies hoping for override of liability over worker illness [Liz Crampton and Gabby Orr, Politico, NBC News]
- “The Case That Could Change Product Liability” [Daniel Fisher, Chief Executive on Ford v. Bandemer at the U.S. Supreme Court] More personal jurisdiction cases bubbling up from Seventh, D.C. Circuits [Jim Beck] “Constitutional Limitations on Product Liability?” [Stephen McConnell]
- “Incorporating Catholicism: Dioceses are changing their secular legal forms to conform to canon law and insulate assets” [Stephen Bainbridge]
- “Taco Bell wins Chalupa price case after claiming plaintiffs ignored menu” [John O’Brien, Legal Newsline, earlier]
Posts Tagged ‘workers’ compensation’
About that oh-so-French workers’ comp case
As has been widely reported, “a French court has ruled that an employee who died while having sex on a business trip was the victim of a workplace accident.” [Local France, ABA Journal] While some commentators have ooh-la-la’ed it up about this supposedly being an especially Gallic ruling, longtime Overlawyered readers realize that the issue has previously arisen in places other than France. Our 2013 post reported this from Australia: “Update: Oz high court reverses sex-injury comp award”
Liability roundup
- Ill-fated names: Londonderry woman sues over fall at Stumble Inn Bar and Grill [Jason Schreiber, New Hampshire Union Leader]
- After starting out as a “humanistic attorney,” lawyer in time comes to net $700,000/year “by sending San Diego workers’ compensation claimants to dirty medical providers” as part of spinal surgery scam that U.S. Justice Department said “cost insurers $500 million over a 15-year period.” [Jim Sams, Claims Journal]
- Lengthy report on creative litigation by municipalities, often done in close harness with contingent-fee private lawyers, explores ill effects and what might be done to rein the process in [Rob McKenna (former Washington State AG), Elbert Lin (former West Virginia SG), and Drew Ketterer (former Maine AG) for U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform]
- “Trial lawyers are paying millions to a handful of experts necessary to push their talc cases” [Dan Fisher, Legal NewsLine, earlier]
- New York City Council Speaker: “Corey Johnson targets Scaffold Law in plan to fix MTA” [Carl Campanile, New York Post, earlier on New York’s unique, pro-plaintiff Scaffold Law]
- “Law Firms Objecting to Mesh Fees Accuse Leadership of Self-Dealing, Bill-Padding” [Amanda Bronstad, Law.com, earlier]
Labor and employment roundup
- California becomes fourth state to ban asking job applicants about salary history. Bad law. [Gerald Skoning, WSJ] Together with required disclosure of “pay range,” ban on salary history inquiries could hurt studios, talent biz [Philip Bonoli, Forbes]
- Claim: age-targeted Facebook employment ads unlawful under age discrimination law, even if hiring firms are listing jobs and soliciting applicants through many other channels as well [Julia Angwin, Noam Scheiber, and Ariana Tobin, New York Times] More: Charles Sullivan, Workplace Prof (“It’s not at all clear that the practice is illegal under current federal law.”)
- “‘Opt Out’ Provisions May Provide Path Forward for Class-Action Waivers in Employment Contracts” [Andrew Trask, Class Action Countereasures]
- Payments to workers’ comp attorney: “Former NBA Player Pleads Guilty to Charity Fraud Scheme” [Phil Yacuboski, WCI360] Report: jihadist group in Colorado in 1990s funded acts of terror through workers’ comp fraud [Liz Carey, WCI360]
- Will #MeToo scandal result in a leftward lurch in employment law? Some certainly hope so [Terri Gerstein, On Labor]
- Weirdly influential “pay workers enough to buy back the product” fallacy, associated with Henry Ford, doesn’t work for aircraft carriers or matches or most other products [David Henderson, earlier here, etc.]
ADA and the workplace roundup
- “Can Fido Come to Work? EEOC Files Suit to Require Emotional Support Dog on Truck Route” [James M. Paul, Ogletree Deakins] “Someone brought a $@&@?! therapy duck into Iowa Law School.” [Prof. @andygrewal, with picture]
- EEOC sues Dollar General, alleges medical exams and questions violate ADA, GINA [Courtney Bru, McAfee & Taft]
- “My only surprise is that these kind of [ADA vs. NFL] suits don’t happen more often.” [William Goren, Understanding the ADA on Erin Henderson v. New York Jets LLC]
- When Addressing a Workers’ Comp Claim, Don’t Forget FMLA (and ADA)… [Janette Frisch on Zuber v. Boscov’s, Third Circuit]
- “Lucky Employer Skates on ADA Liability: Complaints about Noisy Workplace Not Enough to Put Employer on Notice of Need for ADA Accommodation” [Marti Cardi and Gail Cohen,
Matrix Radar] - “The ADA: Four issues to watch in 2018” [Robin Shea, Constangy]
Philly workers’ comp lawyers and their special pharmacy
“Three partners at the [law] firm and its chief financial officer are majority owners of a mail-order pharmacy in the Philadelphia suburbs that has teamed up with a secretive network of doctors that prescribes unproven and exorbitantly priced pain creams to injured workers — some creams costing more than $4,000 per tube…. These sorts of doctor- and lawyer-owned pharmacies are largely unknown outside of the local workers’ comp industry and are not fully understood even within legal and medical communities, because the lawyers and physicians behind them have kept a low profile or sought to conceal their ownership….Clients who click through to the pharmacy’s website are told: ‘Focus on your recovery. Let us handle the fine print.'” [William Bender, Philadelphia Daily News]
June 21 roundup
- “Law Professors: Three Centuries of Shaping American Law”: The Economist favorably reviews new Stephen Presser book;
- Profile of Texas Supreme Court notes that its members regularly face opposition at election time from alliance of plaintiffs’ bar with some social conservatives [Mark Pulliam]
- 10 lawyers, 6 others charged in alleged workers’ comp fraud scheme targeting Latinos in California [Associated Press]
- Employee’s ADA case against Novartis backfires, court orders her to pay nearly $2 million; her attorney quit case after discrepancies in her background were discovered [Kathleen O’Brien, NJ.com]
- To protect the children, feds ban a product one of whose functions is to keep drugs out of hands of children [Christian Britschgi, Reason]
- Budget choices and trade-offs faced by advocacy groups don’t give them constitutionally required standing to sue [Daniel E. Jones and Archis Parasharami, WLF]
“Ohio Supreme Court sides with workers’ comp fraud”
“The employer fired Onderko for his ‘deceptive’ attempt to obtain workers’ compensation benefits for a non-work-related injury. He injured his knee while pumping gas on his way home from work, and falsely tried to claim that the gas-pump injury was an exacerbation of an earlier work injury.” In a decision with only one dissent, the Ohio Supreme Court has now held that the genuineness of the injury was irrelevant to his ability to sue for being fired over it: “It no longer matters whether the workers’ compensation injury underlying a retaliation claim is legitimate or illegitimate, or the employee filing such a claim is truthful or a perpetrator of a fraud.” [Jon Hyman]
Privacy laws and client-chasing attorneys
Ohio’s FOIA/public records law guards the privacy of workers comp claimants, but with an exception for journalists. Lawyers hire journalist to dredge names. Legal? [John O’Brien, Legal NewsLine/Forbes] Lawyers have sued for direct access to the lists [ABA Journal]
Workplace roundup
- The proportion of jobs requiring a license has risen from roughly 5 percent in the 1950s to 25 percent now, and why that matters [Edward Rodrigue and Richard V. Reeves, Brookings] Signs of bipartisan agreement that occupational licensing has gone too far [J.D. Tuccille, Reason] And surprisingly or not, it’s emerged as an Obama administration cause [Matt Yglesias, Vox]
- “25 quick takes (no kidding!) on the EEOC’s proposed national origin guidance” [Robin Shea]
- “Trial lawyers’ pecuniary interests have shifted our focus toward termination decisions, instead of hiring and promotion practices” [Merrily Archer]
- Is it lawful to move full-time employees to part-time work to avoid ObamaCare mandates? [Jon Hyman, related]
- Florida Supreme Court decision spells Christmas for workers’ comp lawyers, and insurers proceed to file 17 percent rate increase, so everyone’s happy [Insurance Journal]
- “Uber and the gig economy’s existential litigation threat” [Alison Frankel] Labor union grip on state legislature imperils benefits of sharing economy [Steven Greenhut]