The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today declared as unconstitutional the impairment rating evaluation (IRE) provision in Section 306(a.2) of the Workers' Compensation Act. The decision in Protz v. WCAB (Derry Area School District) means that injured workers will no longer be subject to a cap on the length of wage loss…
Read MoreThere are some attorneys and judges who say that oral argument doesn't matter. Today I have proof that it does. On May 10, 2017, I argued the case of Erie Insurance v. Bristol before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. When I filed the petition asking the Court to take the case,…
Read MoreThe Superior Court has refused to enforce an exculpatory release that would have insulated a college from liability for serious injuries suffered by two student athletes during a football drill. Attorneys Daniel J. Siegel and Nicole Kratzer of the Law Offices of Daniel J. Siegel, LLC served as appellate counsel…
Read MoreThe Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a physician performing an Impairment Rating Evaluation under Section 306(a.2)(1) of the Workers’ Compensation Act, 77 P.S. § 511.2(1) should consider all conditions that the physician believes are related to the work injury when performing an IRE. In the case, Duffey v. Workers’…
Read MoreToday’s Legal Intelligencer, the daily newspaper for Philadelphia’s legal community featured the case of Erie Insurance v. Bristol, for which Attorney Daniel J. Siegel serves as counsel for Mr. Bristol. The article focuses on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case and the court’s ruling will impact virtually every…
Read MoreThe Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted allocatur today in Erie Insurance v. Bristol, on the following issue, “In uninsured motorist claims subject to mandatory arbitration, is the statute of limitations tolled only by the commencement of an official judicial action, or may extra-judicial actions also toll the statute of limitations?” I…
Read MoreOn Wednesday, September 28, 2016, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. §2, preempts Pa.R.Civ.P. 2013(e), which requires consolidation of survival and wrongful death actions for trial. Consequently, the Court held that plaintiffs’ wrongful death and survival actions must be bifurcated, and that the…
Read MoreAh, social media. Facebook, Yelp, you name it, social media is out there, and lawyers are using – and misusing it. Here are some recent examples that highlight the issues confronting us – and why it is best to recognize the problems up front – so you don’t have to…
Read MoreSince 2012, our firm has been leading the challenge to the unconstitutionality of the current impairment rating evaluation (IRE) process in Pennsylvania. We have filed numerous briefs explaining in detail why the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Bureau of Labor & Industry's adoption the guidelines used in the 5th and 6th editions of the AMA…
Read MoreThe Pennsylvania Supreme Court on February 3, 2016 agreed to decide an important issue concerning Impairment Rating Evaluations under the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act. In Duffey v. WCAB (Trola-Dyne, Inc.), the Court will decide whether the Commonwealth Court erred by concluding that an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE), which is designed to rate…
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