Professional Liability Policy Rescinded For Failure to Provide Notice

A US District Court ruled that a professional liability insurance company was permitted to rescind an attorney's policy for lack of notice. The attorney was instructed to appeal a workers' compensation claim and failed to do so on a timely basis, and did not provide notice to the professional liability insurance carrier under the terms of the policy, or in renewal applications, or when when requested on five occasions.

Liberty Mutual Underwriters, Inc., v Wolfe, et al., Civ. No. 16-2353 (WHW)(CLW) Decided 02/03/2017 (USDCT D.NJ) Unreported 2017 WL 481468

Accelerated Justice Is Problematic on Appeal

Workers' Compensation matters were intended by the legislature to be summary and remedial actions. Accelerated justice does have its consequences on appeal, and should be implemented prudently.

Occupational Exposure to Lead Continues to be a Serious Health Issue

The California Department of Health has reported that the workers' occupational exposure to lead continues to be a serious public health issue.

FELA: US Supreme Court to Review Personal Jurisdiction Criteria

The United States Supreme Court will review the merits of a case involving the personal jurisdiction criteria of a FELA case.

"Issue: Whether a state court may decline to follow the Supreme Court's decision in Daimler AG v. Bauman, which held that the due process clause forbids a state court from exercising general personal jurisdiction over a defendant that is not at home in the forum state, in a suit against an American defendant under the Federal Employers' Liability Act."

The Promise of State Initiatives to Prevent Long Term Work Disability

Every year, millions of Americans suffer from medical conditions that affect their ability to work. This puts them at risk of losing their jobs or being forced to rely on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). States could help many of these workers stay in their jobs, but promising options for doing this remain largely untested. The five states with state-mandated short-term disability benefits— California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island—are promising settings for such tests.

Chaos in Workers' Compensation - Raising Medicare's Eligibility Age to 67

A new issue for workers' compensation programs is  emerging as  the Republicans push forward on their legislative agenda to reform Medicare. Uncertainty over the impact of raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67 may seriously and adversely impact the nation's network of fragile workers' compensation schemes. Furthermore, looming in the background is also the elimination of The Affordable Care Act and the consequence of a large pool of uninsured again seniors.

Made by a robot...driven by a computer

The workers' compensation scheme is being challenged to potential extinction by the workplace in which it was created decades ago. Stressed by economic challenges that have been fueled by globalization and technology, workers' compensation benefit programs are now being dismantled by historic reforms that attack the core philosophical  principles of its very existence. 

The evolving dynamic of the world's automobile industry provides a focus on the new economy where goods are made by robots and operated by a computer.