John Webb recently prevailed in a workers’ compensation trial before Judge D. Alan Mann in Madison County, Alabama in Antonio Octaviano v. Coast Personnel Services, Inc. At the time of the accident, Plaintiff was employed with Benchmark Electronics through Defendant, Coast Personnel Services, Inc. Coast Personnel is a temporary staffing agency. The Plaintiff alleged he suffered a work…
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In, Ex parte Reed Contracting Servs., Inc., No. 2150230, 2016 WL 360725 (Ala. Civ. App. Jan. 29, 2016), the plaintiff, Henry Riley (“Riley”), injured both of his knees and wrists during the course of his employment with his employer, Reed Contracting Services (“Reed”) when he fell from a man lift in March 2012. Id. at *1. Riley…
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Aaron Ashcraft recently prevailed in a compensability hearing before Judge Steven Haddock in Decatur, Alabama in Darrin Hester v. Minor Tire Company, et al. The dispute was between Minor Tire and AJ Associates, and concerned the last injurious exposure doctrine. The Plaintiff initially was employed with AJ Associates, a temporary employment agency, and assigned to work…
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On February 27, 2015, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals released an opinion re-affirming the principle that an employer is only liable under the Worker’s Compensation Act for treatment of the temporary injury when a work related injury aggravates a preexisting condition. Ex parte Fairhope Health & Rehab, LLC, 2015 WL 836706, at *7 (Ala. Civ….
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INTRODUCTION The doctrine of “idiopathic falls” can be a very fruitful defense in workers’ compensation cases. The doctrine arises from the general rule that, “the employment must be the source and cause of the accident in order to be compensable as a workers’ compensation injury.” Slimford Manuf. Co. v. Martin, 417 So. 2d 199 (Ala….
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John Webb recently obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a global coal mining company in a workers’ compensation hearing loss trial. The Plaintiff filed suit against his employer claiming permanent hearing impairment arising out of his employment. Defendant denied that any of the coal miner’s hearing loss was due to occupational hazards of his…
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On February 27, 2015, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals entered a decision in the case of Pollock v. Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama, Inc., 24 ALW 10-6 (2130538), 2/27/15. The issue in Pollock was whether an employee’s participation in a horseback riding event organized and planned by a co-employee was within the scope of the…
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In Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bush, the Alabama Civil Appeals Court held that the trial court erred in concluding that the employee was permanently and totally disabled under the Act, Ala. Code § 25-5-57(a)(4)(d), because it used the vocational disability of the employee as the basis for the compensation award without first deciding that an exception to…
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On April 4, 2014, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals issued an opinion on the effect of an employee’s preexisting condition and its impact on the issue of medical causation. See Madison Academy, Inc. v. Hanvey, 2014 WL 1328334 (Ala. Civ. App. 2014). In Madison Academy, “the employee suffered from Myasthenia gravis (“MG”) which is an idiopathic disease…
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In Dubose Construction v. Simmons, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals revisited an employee’s burden for obtaining compensation outside the schedule based on a seemingly routine knee injury. 2013 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 239 (Ala. Civ. App. Dec. 20, 2013). The employee, James Simmons, injured his knee in a workplace fall. Medical examinations revealed a torn…
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