The Iowa workers’ compensation commissioner ordered an employer and its workers’ compensation insurance carrier to pay a $39,000 penalty for failing to pay an injured worker approximately $80,000 in healing period benefits. The commissioner found the employer and insurance carrier terminated benefits without a reasonable cause and awarded a 50 percent penalty in accordance with […]
The Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commission issued an updated Order on February 2, 2021, extending the suspension of all in-person regular contested hearings before the agency from March 19, 2021, through at least June 18, 2021. Regular hearings that were scheduled to occur during that period will be conducted via video conference, using CourtCall, unless the […]
Andrew Hall and Aaron Lindebak obtained a summary judgment dismissal for a factory supervisor sued for gross negligence. The case arose from a catastrophic industrial accident that occurred as a result of a malfunctioning machine. In Iowa, the sole remedy for employees injured in work related accidents is to bring a worker’s compensation claim against […]
Grefe & Sidney is already handling Coronavirus/COVID-19 related litigation. Countless businesses have been affected by this pandemic, causing disruptions with both demand and supply. Our firm is involved in defending claims that business interruption clauses contained in many insurance policies should be triggered by pandemic related/government ordered closures. In addition, the first of what is […]
Anita Dhar Miller successfully argued in an Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commission hearing that a claimant who alleged permanent disability resulting from a work injury failed to demonstrate so by a preponderance of the evidence; as a result, the deputy did not award claimant any benefits. Anita represented claimant’s former employer and their workers’ compensation carrier. […]
Andrew D. Hall and Aaron W. Lindebak obtained a summary judgment against a Claimant in a workers’ compensation proceeding. Claimant filed a workers’ compensation claim relating to an alleged work place accident that occurred on September 14, 2016. The Petition was filed on September 17, 2018. Defendant had paid no benefits to the Claimant. Hall […]
In a case pending in the United States District Court for Northern District of Iowa, the Iowa Supreme Court answered a certified question by federal district court Judge Mark Bennett regarding whether a Third-Party Administrator for workers’ compensation insurance carriers may not be held liable for bad faith causes of action brought by workers’ compensation […]
Six current or former employees of TPI Iowa, LLC, a wind blade manufacturing company located in Newton, Iowa, sued TPI’s workers’ compensation carrier, Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania (ICSOP), for failing to conduct, or negligently conducting, an insurance inspection at the company’s facility, which caused serious health problems. ICSOP resisted the Plaintiffs’ claims, […]
Iowa’s workers’ compensation law will be changing for idiopathic falls. This change will go into effect on July 1, 2019. Therefore, work injuries occurring on or after July 1, 2019, will be subject to the new law. Iowa Code Section 85.61(7) was amended to further define “personal injuries arising out of and in the course […]
Iowa’s workers’ compensation law will be changing significantly for injuries that occur after July 1, 2017. We have summarized many of the changes below, but it will take some time, and perhaps Commissioner and Court guidance to fully determine how the changes will impact our claims. We are here to help consult with you about […]
