Compensability
Trainer Injured at Health Club Shed Her Employee Status and Was Not Covered at the Time of Her Fall
Mary Patterson worked for The Atlantic Club as a personal trainer, training clients from 6:00-7:00 a.m., from 8:00-11:00 a.m., and from 12:00-3:00 p.m. She was injured at 11:15 a.m. when she tripped and fell, breaking her wrist on the premises. The Atlantic Club denied the claim asserting that she was not in the course of […]
Appellate Division Affirms Decision That a Motion for Past Benefits Should Not Be the Subject of a Motion Trial
Caitlin Wilson was injured on September 8, 2011 when she dropped a heavy frame on her foot while in the employment of respondent Studio I, Inc. She received $420 per week from September 14, 2011 to October 24, 2011 in temporary disability benefits. Her doctor advised that she could work light duty at the end […]
Employer May Be Entitled To Offset For Overpayment Of Benefits To Petitioner
Adam Weiner worked for the Elizabeth Board of Education and received an award of 100% total and permanent disability on October 18, 2000. That entitled him to $480 per week for 450 weeks and thereafter. That award was reduced on January 9, 2001 to $340.98 per week due to the social security disability offset rate. […]
Injury in Elevator of Multi-Tenant Building Found Not Compensable
Petitioner Valerie Pyles worked for respondent The Mentor Network as a therapist in the Somerset, N.J. office. Her office was on the third floor of a four-story office building. She generally took one of the building’s two elevators from the lobby to the third floor to get to her office. On the accident date, Pyles […]
Door Remains Closed On All But The Most Egregious Suits For Intentional Harm In New Jersey
It is certainly not for lack of trying that plaintiffs remain largely unsuccessful in opening the door to intentional harm claims in New Jersey. The door has remained closed in the past 10 years on intentional harm claims and all but locked, including the most recent challenge in Fendt v. Adam L. Abrahams, et. al., […]
School Bus Driver’s Injury After Cleaning School Bus At Home Was Covered Under Comp
Walesca Benvenutti worked for Scholastic Bus Company as a school bus driver. She drove children to school in the morning and then drove them home in the afternoon. She was required to clean the bus interior and inspect the seatbelts after each run. The testimony of both petitioner and her employer was that there was […]
Does An Employer Owe Temp Benefits In New Jersey If The Employee Cannot Work One Job But Is Still Working Another?
Clients ask about the following scenario frequently: Bob injures his low back working for Company A on January 1, 2013, arising out of and in the course of employment. He earns $400 per week working 20 hours per week. Company A pays temp benefits at $280 per week, and the authorized doctor indicates that Bob […]
Controversial First Responder Bill Would Create Various Presumptions in Favor of Compensability
The New Jersey Assembly is considering a bill which would create presumptions that cancers and other medical conditions experienced by public safety workers are work related. New Jersey already has laws creating presumptions in favor of compensability for firefighters and certain public safety workers in regard to respiratory conditions, heart attacks and strokes. The new […]
Court Holds That First Employer is Responsible for Entire Case Notwithstanding Subsequent Injuries
Defining what is a flare up from a new injury as opposed to objective worsening in the condition has always been more art than science. In Allison v. L&J Contracting Company, A-1352-11T4 (App. Div. September 27, 2012), the petitioner Allison injured his low back falling in a hole on July 27, 2006. He filed a […]
House Cleaner Injured on First Day of Work Was an Independent Contractor Not Covered Under Comp
Luz Lukasik agreed to provide house cleaning services for Marguerite Hollaway and two others. Respondents contacted Lukasik after hearing about her from an acquaintance. At that time she was cleaning five or six other houses and one office building on a regular basis. Petitioner Lukasik and her daughter went to the home of respondents and […]
Accident Crossing Busy Street To Work Site Is Compensable Where County Paid For Parking And Designated Parking Spot
In Hersh v. County of Morris, A-1442-10T4 (App. Div. July 24, 2012), the Appellate Division affirmed an award for claimant,Cheryl Hersh, who worked for Morris County. For the first two years she worked for the County beginning in 2002, the County paid for parking at a private lot located behind her work site at the […]
Court Holds Employer Must Pay Total Disability for Complex Groin Injury Without Second Injury Fund and Could Not Offer Surveillance Tapes Done Post-Testimony
In the case of Marra v. Ryder Transportation Resources, A-5724-10T4 (App. Div. July 2, 2012), the Appellate Division affirmed a holding that the employer was solely responsible for total disability stemming from a groin injury that occurred 15 years ago. The petitioner, Gerard Marra, originally injured himself at work lifting a loading gate. On January […]
New Jersey Supreme Court Nearly Bars the Door to Claims for Inentional Harm
In Van Dunk v. Reckson Associates Realty Corporation, (A-69-10) (066949), the Supreme Court of New Jersey on June 26, 2012 reversed an appellate division decision that had promised to breathe life into suits against employers for intentional harm. Reckson Associates Realty Corporation and Reckson Construction contracted with James Construction Company to build a retention pond […]
Court Rejects Intentional Harm Claim For Worker Injured Using Table Saw
The work conditions complained of were a fact of life of industrial employment and therefore not actionable Plaintiffs’ counsel continue to try overcome the exclusive remedy provision of the Workers’ Compensation Act, largely unsuccessfully. The case of Menkevich v. Delta Tools, A-1950-10T2, shows just how hard it is to prove an intentional harm case […]
Gross Negligence Is Insufficient For Plaintiff To Prove Intentional Harm Claim
Plaintiffs’ counsel continue to assault the citadel that is the exclusive remedy defense in the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act. Once again a New Jersey court has held that no intentional harm was proven. Craig Kane worked for the County of Burlington as an HVAC mechanic. He also owned his own mechanical business. He was asked […]
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