Summary Of Court Challenges – Part I
TO TITLE 85A, THE ADMINISTRATIVE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ACT Updated February 1, 2018 Four years ago to the day, an Act became effective in Oklahoma making devastating cuts to workers’ compensation benefits. Attorneys who represent injured workers, like Brandon Burton, advised law makers at the time that at least 52 of the new statutes contained in…
Read MoreSummary Of Court Challenges – Part II
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION Gillispie v. Estes, 2015 OK CIV APP 93, 361 P.3d 543 Challenge: Claimant appealed ALJ order that he had no compensable injury because he had a previous injury to the same part of the body. Decision: Oklahoma Court of Appeals, Division IV, reversed ALJ’s opinion and held: (1) An aggravation of a pre-existing…
Read MoreSummary Of Court Challenges – Part III
SUBROGATION Rogers v. Sims and UPS, Intervenor, Grady County District Court, CJ-2015-2 Challenge: UPS was trying to recover its comp payments in a death case through Section 43 subrogation. The Plaintiff argued that subrogation in a workers’ compensation death case in Oklahoma is unconstitutional. Decision: District Judge Richard Van Dyck ruled that Article 23, Section…
Read MoreSummary Of Court Challenges – Part IV
OIL AND GAS IMMUNITY Strickland v. Stephens Production Company, 2018 OK 6 Challenge: 85A O.S. Sec. 5(A) gave oil and gas operators immunity from third party negligence action. In other words, even if an oil and gas operator was negligent, it could not be sued by an employee of another company that was injured or…
Read MoreSummary Of Court Challenges – Part V
ISSUES PENDING JURISDICTION AND DEFINITION OF INJURY Lynch v. Bridgestone, Court of Existing Claims No. 2016-01031J Challenge: In a cumulative trauma injury with a date of awareness of 2013, does the Commission now have jurisdiction because more than two years passed from the effective date of the AWCA and the filing of the Form 3? Decision:…
Read MoreAuthorities Investigating Oklahoma Rig Explosion, Deadliest U.S. Drilling Accident In Years
Federal and state authorities are investigating the cause of the deadly explosion and fire at a natural gas drilling rig in southeastern Oklahoma on Monday. Five workers died in what appears to be one of the country’s deadliest onshore drilling accidents. The well site, located near the town of Quinton, 100 miles south of Tulsa, was…
Read MoreHow to Find an Attorney to Handle Semi Truck Accidents
Getting into a semi truck accident exposes you to civil, legal, and financial risks that come with dealing with the party at fault or the party that you injured. One of the first steps you should take when involved in this kind of predicament is finding a semi truck accident lawyer to help you with all the legal responsibilities…
Read MoreHiring a Personal Injury Attorney For Your Case Involving Defective Products
Are you suffering from a personal injury caused by using a defective product? It’s important to know that you have legal recourse. By working with a defective products attorney, you may be able to recover damages for your injuries. The expertise of a lawyer that focuses on defective product injury is an essential resource if you want to recover…
Read MoreInside Alabama’s Auto Jobs Boom: Cheap Wages, Little Training, Crushed Limbs – Bloomberg
Author: Peter Waldman, BloombergBusinessweek (USA), Published on 27 March 2017 Regina Elsea was a year old in 1997 when the first vehicle rolled off the Mercedes-Benz assembly line near Tuscaloosa. That gleaming M-Class SUV was historic. Alabama, the nation’s fifth-poorest state, had wagered a quarter-billion dollars in tax breaks and other public giveaways to land the…
Read MoreWhy it is important to hire a Construction Site Accident Attorney?
If you’ve been the tragic victim of an accident at a construction site, you surely don’t deserve to bear the additional pain that could come from navigating the swampy waters of legal compensation. Most construction site accidents occur due to the negligence of some individual or company. Often workers are laboring under dangerous working conditions,…
Read More