Practice Area: Worker's Compensation

Ben Erickson Wins Defense Verdict in Arbitration Proceeding

December 5, 2023

On November 8, 2023, Ben Erickson secured a defense verdict in an arbitration hearing in front of the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commission. The case arose out of a debilitating condition suffered by one of Erickson’s client’s former employees. Specifically, the claimant alleged to have sustained a significant cumulative injury to his neck and back during […]


IOWA SUPREME COURT FINDS MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE SUIT PROPERLY DISMISSED FOR FAILURE TO FILE CERTIFICATE OF MERIT

May 17, 2022

The plaintiff was hospitalized to treat her prolonged dizziness. While medicated, she stood up and fell in her hospital room, suffering injuries. She sued the hospital, several physicians, and other healthcare providers involved in her treatment, alleging their “professional negligence” caused her injuries. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the […]


IOWA SUPREME COURT FINDS A ROTATOR CUFF INJURY IS A WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SCHEDULED MEMBER INJURY

On February 5, 2018, the claimant, Rosa Chavez, sustained a work injury in the course of her employment as a lab technician at MS Technology, LLC. An MRI revealed Chavez had sustained a “full thickness rotator cuff tear that has retracted to the level of the glenoid, severe AC arthrosis, tendonitis and tearing of the […]


Iowa Court of Appeals Affirms Denial of Penalty Benefits Against Employer in Workers’ Compensation Action

January 17, 2022

After injuring his right hand at work, claimant filed a workers’ compensation action against his employer, seeking healing period benefits after he was placed at maximum medical improvement (MMI) by an authorized doctor. He also sought penalty benefits for the employer’s failure to pay benefits after he reached MMI through the arbitration hearing. Following an […]


Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commission Extends Suspension of Certain In-Person Proceedings

The Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commission has issued an updated Order extending the suspension of all in-person regular contested hearings before the agency from January 31, 2022, through April 29, 2022. Regular contested hearings that were scheduled to occur during that period will be conducted via internet-based video unless the parties timely file a motion to continue. […]


Iowa Court of Appeals Upholds $39,000 Penalty Award in Workers’ Compensation Case

March 19, 2021

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 […]


Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commission Extends Suspension of In-Person Hearings

February 4, 2021

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 […]


Hall and Lindebak Win Summary Judgment

September 28, 2020

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 […]


COVID-19 Related Litigation

June 22, 2020

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 […]


Dhar Miller Secures Favorable Client Result before Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commission

March 2, 2020

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.  […]