The debate about shoulders and industrial disability has come to an end for now with the Iowa Supreme Court’s most recent decision, Bridgestone Americas, Inc. v. Anderson. The Court held that a work injury causing injuries to...more
Following the 2017 amendments to the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Act, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled on its first shoulder cases. The amendment to add Iowa Code section 85.34(2)(n) made shoulder injuries part of the...more
After the 2017 Amendments to Iowa Code Chapter 85 provided that shoulder injuries were to be compensated functionally as scheduled member injuries, instead of industrially as whole body injuries, claimants have been looking...more
In 2017, the Iowa Legislature amended the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Act to make shoulder injuries part of the schedule. Previously, shoulder injuries were treated as body as a whole injuries and compensated using an...more
I previously wrote about an Iowa workers’ compensation arbitration decision, Wood v. Vermeer Manufacturing Company, that dealt with how to compensate unscheduled work injuries under the 2017 amendments, specifically when the...more
With concerns about the Coronavirus, employers and insurance carriers are dealing with the consequences to their existing, litigated workers’ compensation matters as well as potential claims made as a result of the...more
The Division of Workers’ Compensation is in the process of rolling out its new Workers’ Compensation Electronic System (WCES). Effective July 22, 2019, parties will now need to file pleadings, motions, settlement documents,...more
A workers’ compensation arbitration decision was recently filed in what appears to be the first time the Iowa Division of Workers’ Compensation has dealt with how to compensate unscheduled work injuries under the 2017...more
Effective July 1, 2019, injuries in the workplace from idiopathic and unexplained falls will be subject to a new law. On April 23, 2019, Governor Reynolds signed into law an amendment to Iowa Code section 85.61(7)....more
In De Dios v. Indemnity Insurance Company of North America, the Iowa Supreme Court set out to answer a certified question of law: Can third-party administrators be liable for bad faith failure to pay workers’ compensation...more
Note: There has been an update to this post due to legislation passed during the 2019 Iowa Legislative session. ...
The Iowa Supreme Court recently issued a decision that re-examined compensability of idiopathic injuries,...more
The Iowa Court of Appeals recently decided a case finding that if penalty benefits were not awarded as part of a workers’ compensation action because the employer/insurance carrier’s denial of benefits was reasonable, then...more