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SIGNIFICANT CASE SUMMARIES West Virginia Case Summary Hood v. Lincare Holdings, Inc. Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia September 2023 term, No. 21-0754 Decided: November 9, 2023 The factfinder (Board of Review) has discretion to use the increased-risk test when deciding whether an employee sustained a compensable injury while the employee was engaged in… read more

SIGNIFICANT CASE SUMMARIES Pennsylvania Case Summaries Charter v. Lehigh Valley Health Network (WCAB) Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania No. 1152 C.D. 2022 Decided: September 22, 2023 A claimant will not be entitled to litigation costs where he/she does not prevail on a contested issue. Background The claimant sustained a work injury on September 15, 2020, and… read more

SIGNIFICANT CASE SUMMARIES Maryland Case Summary Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association v. Cree Appellate Court of Maryland 2023 Md. App. Decided: September 6, 2023 Because the last injurious exposure rule in Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. § 9-502(b) does not apply to occupational hearing loss cases as set out in § 9-505(b), when allocating liability among… read more

SIGNIFICANT CASE SUMMARIES New Jersey Case Summary Sykes v. George Harms Constr. Co. New Jersey Superior Court No. A-3320-20, 2023 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1594 Employer fact witnesses or video evidence are essential to the success of the idiopathic defense. Background The petitioner lost consciousness while operating an excavator. The petitioner believed that while he… read more

SIGNIFICANT CASE SUMMARIES West Virginia Case Summary Lewis v. Columbia W. Va. Corp. West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals 2023 W. Va. App. LEXIS 213, 2023 WL 5695908 The Workers’ Compensation Board of Review did not err when it rejected the petitioner’s occupational pneumoconiosis claim because the petitioner failed to demonstrate that he had been… read more