Court Upholds Denial of Demolition Worker’s Heart Attack Claim
- The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld on Oct. 26 the denial of benefits to a demolition worker who failed to prove his heart attack was work-related.
- The court affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board ruling, holding the credited medical evidence showed he had the heart attack before his overnight shift. Because no obvious causal connection existed, he needed unequivocal medical testimony and did not have it.
- The employee, a supervisor for Power Component Systems Inc., was on a small demolition crew removing flooring and drywall in May 2023. The worker felt chest pain and left arm heaviness around midnight on May 24, left work, drove to the hospital and was admitted for three days.
- A cardiologist testified that cardiac enzymes showed the heart attack occurred about 24 to 48 hours before the worker arrived at the hospital. The man also reported chest pain on May 20 and before his May 23 shift, though he denied prior problems in testimony. The doctor attributed the attack to smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol and said he was doing what he did every day.
- The worker’s expert, Dr. Byrne Solberg, was not a cardiologist, did not review hospital records and based his opinion on the worker’s account. The workers’ compensation judge discredited him and the worker’s causation testimony, and the court found no obvious causal link under the heart attack case law.
Court: Staffing Agency Worker Paralyzed in Accident Can Sue Host Company
- A sawmill operator cannot use workers’ compensation exclusivity protections to block a negligence lawsuit filed by a staffing agency employee who was paralyzed in a workplace accident, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Nov. 4, in Arnol C. Enrique v. Edwards Wood Products Inc. The ruling means the worker’s lawsuit against the employer can proceed.
- The man was working as a mechanic at Edwards Wood Products’ sawmill in Laurinburg, North Carolina, when a crane cable snapped in September 2023 causing a steel blade holder to fall and strike him. He was permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
- CDT HR, a staffing agency, employed the worker and had assigned him to the sawmill. He filed a workers’ compensation claim with CDT, then sued Edwards Wood Products for negligence and gross negligence, seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
- Edwards Wood Products argued it was the worker’s special employer and therefore immune from civil liability under the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act. The court rejected that argument, finding no express or implied employment contract between the worker and the company.
- The court noted the company had earlier argued in workers’ compensation proceedings that no employment relationship existed, and said it could not deny the relationship before the Industrial Commission and later claim it to invoke exclusivity.
School Board Adds $475,000 in Omitted Workers’ Comp Costs to 2026-27 Budget
- The Concord, New Hampshire Board of Education folded $475,000 in workers’ compensation costs into its 2026-27 budget that was left off the March plan because of a technical mishap, according to Business Administrator Jack Dunn.
- The workers’ comp addition is part of a roughly $2 million increase, bringing the budget from a little under $124 million to $126 million. A little more than $1 million of the increase will come from taxes.
- Another $100,000 from taxes pays for remediation of a mold problem at Beaver Meadow School.