September 18, 2015 -- In Protz v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Derry Area School District), No. 1024 C.D. 2014 (Pa.Cmwlth., September 18, 2015), a divided en banc panel of the Commonwealth Court ruled that the use of the 5th and 6th Editions of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent…
Read MoreFor 26 years, I have published a newsletter summarizing recent Pennsylvania appellate (and some federal) case law. The August edition is available. Just go to http://bit.ly/1N4hIeM to read it. You can also subscribe by using the subscription box to the right.
Read MoreThe Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously ruled on May 26, 2015 in School District of Philadelphia v. WCAB (Hilton) that an employer is not required to provide an injured employee with a Notice of Ability to Return to Work (NARW) form when the employee has not yet filed a Claim Petition and has…
Read MoreThe Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled today - in a 3 to 2 decision - that Section 319 of the Workers' Compensation Act, 77 P.S. 671, does not permit employers/insurers to commence an action directly against third party torfeasors. The decision, in Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Domtar Paper Co., affirmed the…
Read MoreIn Zauflik v. Pennsbury School District, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the damages cap of $500,000 applicable to claims against local government agencies under the Tort Claims Act, 42 Pa. C.S. §§ 8501-8564. The case involved a school student who suffered severe and permanent injuries when she…
Read MoreIn a much anticipated opinion, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court finally held that Pennsylvania will not depart from the strict liability standard for product liability cases set forth in Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. In recent years, a divide arose between those favoring the existing strict liability standard…
Read MoreIn a recent Opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has dramatically weakened the “mailbox rule,” which created a presumption that a letter was presumed to be received once the sender deposited it into a mailbox. It is about time that the courts examined this rule more…
Read MoreOne of the first things they teach you in an arbitration class is that the Court may not overturn an arbitration award merely because it disagrees with the arbitrator’s reasoning. But, the Court did just that in School District of Philadelphia v. Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Local 3. On July…
Read MoreOn July 10, 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court erased any doubt that it intended to bar all discovery of communications between counsel and experts by amending Pa.R.Civ.P. 4003.5 to prohibit such communications. The amendment, effective August 9, 2014, confirms the Supreme Court’s Opinion in Support of Affirmance in Barrick v.…
Read MoreOn June 16th, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court favored litigants with limited funds over companies trying to make a profit reproducing records, ruling that medical providers and companies that provide medical records to the public may only charge the actual and reasonable expenses of reproducing the records, provided those expenses do…
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