Man injured in car accident wins workers’ comp appeal

• The New Jersey Supreme Court found a car accident occurred in the course of employment under the state’s “authorized vehicle rule,” siding with an employee in a workers’ compensation appeal.
• The man was seriously injured in an early morning motor vehicle accident on his way to the shop to get supplies. He filed a workers’ compensation claim, but his employer, Above All, moved to dismiss, alleging Keim’s injuries did not happen during his employment.
• A workers’ compensation judge agreed with Above All and dismissed the petition with prejudice, ruling the injuries were not compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act.
• However, the Appellate Division disagreed and held that Keim’s injuries were compensable under the authorized operation of a vehicle exception.
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Nurse wins benefits

• A nurse who injured her back when pushing a 100-pound rolling cart against a wall but kept working for several months was correctly granted permanent total disability benefits, according to a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court.
• The former nurse left the workforce following neck surgery which left her unable to walk.
• She filed a claim for workers’ compensation and testified before an administrative law judge that she had continual pain in her back and legs and had to lie or sit down for most of the day to ease the pain.
• The administrative law judge awarded her lifetime permanent total disability benefits and future medical care to address her work injury.
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Court upholds mesothelioma workers’ comp claim

• General Motors objected to an Ohio widow’s workers compensation claim, but the state’s Court of Appeals upheld the decision and awarded the woman compensation for her husband’s lung cancer death.
• The case involved a former General Motors factory worker who died of asbestos-related lung cancer.
• When his widow applied for workers’ compensation benefits, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation denied her request after GM argued successfully that his long-time smoking habit was the sole cause of his death.
• The widow appealed the bureau’s decision to the Court of Appeals of Ohio, arguing that her husband’s lung cancer was related to his exposure to asbestos as a result of his job duties at General Motors.
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Workers’ comp and blood alcohol levels

• The West Virginia Supreme Court ruled that in workplace accidents where a blood alcohol concentration test is given within two hours, the intoxication is deemed the cause of the workplace injury.
• The case involves a man who was injured when working in a lift at a height of 17 feet.
• The man’s application for workers’ compensation benefits was denied by the claims administrator, citing intoxication as the cause.
• The denial was upheld by the Office of Judges and subsequently affirmed by the Workers’ Compensation Board of Review, but the man appealed, arguing that the board erred in concluding that the statute barred his claim.
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