Tag: Workers’ Compensation

• COVID-19

  Workers’ Compensation Legislative Update: COVID-19 & Legislative Session Recap

  • July 22, 2020
  • By Allen & Gooch

  Governor John Bel Edwards issued multiple orders over the past several months due to COVID-19, that affected workers’ compensation in Louisiana. All legal deadlines were suspended from March 17, 2020 until June 15, 2020, and liberative and peremptive prescription delays were suspended from March 17, 2020 until July 5, 2020. All legal delays, including prescription, […]

• Workers' Compensation

  The Independent Medical Examination – Can It Be Used to Address Causation?

  • June 26, 2020
  • By Allen & Gooch

  Under the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Act, both the employee and the employer have a right to choose their own physicians. While the employee has a right to an initial choice of treating physician, the employer has the right to choose its own physician in order to examine the employee and render a Second Medical Opinion […]

• Workers' Compensation

  The Impact of Pain on a Permanent & Total Disability Claim

  • March 19, 2020
  • By Allen & Gooch
  

  Prior to the 1983 amendments to the Workers’ Compensation statute, pain played a large role in permanent and total disability claims. For example, the 1980 Louisiana Supreme Court in Whitaker v. Church’s Fried Chicken, Inc. presented an injured janitor that burned his legs with hot grease, causing severe pain. The court found the claimant to be permanently and total […]

• Workers' Compensation

  Improper Use of 1010 Form For Physician Referral

  • August 21, 2019
  • By Allen & Gooch
  

  As anyone who has practiced or worked in the area of Louisiana Workers Compensation can attest, there are an abundance of state forms. Each form has a specific purpose and exists to create a streamlined approach for how each claim is handled through resolution. However, an increasingly frustrating and confusing misuse of the 1010 Form […]

• Workers' Compensation

  Using Maximum Medical Improvement to Request Independent Medical Examinations

  • April 17, 2019
  • By Allen & Gooch
  

  Doctors generally use the term “maximum medical improvement” or “MMI” to signify that a patient is as well as he/she will get with the aid of conventional medicine and treatment. Under General Maritime Law, a Jones Act seaman is guaranteed certain benefits until a physician determines that he/she has reached maximum medical improvement. However, maximum […]

• Employment Law & Litigation

  Third Circuit’s Requirements for Adjusting Workers’ Compensation Claims in Louisiana

  • March 13, 2017
  • By Allen & Gooch

  In the recent Third Circuit case, Broussard v. Dillards’ Department Stores, Inc., the Court issued a ruling that effects the manner in which all workers’ compensation insurers are required to handle workers’ compensation claims in Louisiana.  — So. 3d —, (La App. 3 Cir. 02/15/17) 2017 WL 606769. The issue was brought before the Third […]

• Workers' Compensation

  Are Franchisee’s Entitled to Workers’ Compensation Benefits?

  • July 25, 2016
  • By Allen & Gooch

      Who is entitled to Workers’ Compensation Benefits? The Workers’ Compensation Act provides an exclusive remedy for an employee against his employer or co-employee where the terms of the statute are met. The compromise allows the injured employee to recover benefits pursuant to the statute, but the employer (and/or co-employee) will be immune from […]

• Insurance & Casualty Litigation

  Spotting and Successfully Defending Claims Against Malingerers

  • May 4, 2016
  • By Allen & Gooch

  Patients who malinger, or exaggerate illness, can be a problem for health and claims management professionals. Malingering is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition-Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) as the intentional production of false or grossly exaggerated physical or psychological symptoms, motivated by external incentives such as avoiding work or military duty; […]

• Employment Law & Litigation

  Bad Faith Claims in Mississippi Could Affect Other Jurisdictions

  • March 30, 2016
  • By Allen & Gooch

  Mississippi Bad Faith Claims Can Affect Employers and Carriers in Other jurisdictions With companies operating in multiple states, navigating interstate laws has become increasingly tricky. This is especially true in the worker’s compensation arena where an employer can be sued for benefits in its state of operation, the state where the injury occurred, or the […]

• Workers' Compensation

  Course and Scope of Employment – Always Clocked In

  • February 3, 2016
  • By Stephen G. Collura of Associate, New Orleans

  Recently, the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeals determined that an employee was in the course and scope of her employment when she sustained injuries from a criminal assailant.   The employee, a home health caregiver, normally worked from 8 am until 5 pm. On the day of the incident, the employee accompanied a client […]