NEW! Hicks v. Vane Line Bunkering, 13-1976-CV, (04/17/2015): The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an injured worker was entitled to an award of punitive damages and attorney fees for his employer's willful failure to pay him adequate maintenance and cure for a shoulder injury.

NEW! Guaman v. 1963 Ryer Realty Corp., 4778, 307124/10, 84186/10, 83886/11 and 84185/11, (04/09/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker who fell from a scaffold was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim and that the defendants in his Labor Law action were entitled to indemnification from his employer.

NEW! Guanopatin v. Flushing Acquisition Holdings, 2013-09348, (04/08/2015): A New York appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment in favor of a construction worker on his Labor Law claim after his hand was crushed by a one ton concrete plank.

NEW! Matter of Dudek v. Victory Markets, 518943, (03/26/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker could not reopen a claim against his former employer for a knee injury which had occurred 25 years prior, as liability for that claim had already transferred to the Special Fund for Reopened Cases.

NEW! Matter of Levitsky v. Garden Time, 518747, (03/26/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker's loss-of-use award for a shoulder injury should not have been apportioned between his accident and a preexisting shoulder that had never limited his ability to work.

NEW! Matter of Wilson v. Yonkers Raceway, 518656, (03/26/2015): A New York appellate court upheld an award of benefits to a Yonkers Raceway employee for a respiratory condition caused by contaminants emitted through air-conditioning vents.

NEW! Phelan v. Bethpage State Park, 519016, (03/26/2015): A long-time groundskeeper at a state park wasn't entitled to workers' compensation benefits for an infected foot wound since he did not establish a connection between his work and his injury, a New York appellate court ruled.

NEW! Matter of Madigan v. ARR ELS, 518683, (03/26/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker's prescriptions for pain medications were properly left undisturbed until the Workers' Compensation Board issued its treatment guidelines on long-term narcotic use.

NEW! Florentino v. Mount Sinai Medical Center, 519160, (03/26/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker, who spent a year working toward her Master's degree and attempting to market a film that she had produced, failed to establish that her reduced earnings that year were caused by her industrial injury.

NEW! Matter of Demperio v. Onondaga County, 518159, (03/26/2015): A New York appellate court upheld an award of benefits to a secretary for her mental injuries after witnessing a suicide at her workplace.

NEW! Saint v. Syracuse Supply Co., 02802, (04/02/2015): The Court of Appeals ruled that a worker who was working on the installation and removal of a billboard advertisement was engaged in alteration of the "structure" within the meaning of Section 240(1).

NEW! Nicometi v. Vineyards of Fredonia, 02801, (04/02/2015): The Court of Appeals ruled that a construction worker who was injured when he fell while working on stilts to install insulation was not covered by the scaffold law.

Mora v. Sky Lift Distributor Corp., 305640/09 14589 83710/12 14588, (03/24/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker could proceed with one of his Labor Law claims for his injury from a falling cooling tower lid.

Czajkowski v. City of New York, (03/17/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a construction worker whose hand was crushed by a falling window frame was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law Section 240(1) claim, although the court said his Section 200 and 241(6) claims should have been dismissed as a matter of law.

Matter of Seiferheld v. Kelly, 100138/12, (03/12/2015): A police officer who was caught on tape doing construction work less than one month after taking a disability retirement from the police force is entitled to continue receiving his disability pension benefits unless and until the pension board votes to suspend or reduce them, a New York appellate court ruled.

Aramburu v. Midtown West B., 14496 115043/09, (03/12/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on the issue of liability for his Labor Law claim.

Matter of Naughton v. DiNapoli, 519474, (03/12/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a corrections officer who injured his knee when he bent to shackle an inmate should have had his application for duty disability retirement benefits granted.

Aponte v. NBTY, 519180, (03/12/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was no longer entitled to wage-replacement benefits because he had voluntarily departed from the labor market.

Losardo v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 519285, (03/12/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker whose medical records were devoid of any reference to a work-related back injury failed to establish the occurrence of a compensable accident.

New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association v. New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, 519108, (03/05/2015): A Department of Corrections employee who missed 22 days of work before her employer would allow her to resume her job duties after a medical leave wasn't entitled to the restoration of the sick leave credit she had used while waiting.

O'Brien v. Albany County Sheriff's Department, 517840, (03/05/2015): A municipal employer lost its ability to request a reimbursement for the wages it had continued to pay an employee during the times he was out of work because of an injury by waiting until after the worker received an award of temporary total disability benefits covering these same time periods.

Schwenger v. NYU School of Medicine, 517372, (03/05/2015): A medical researcher is limited to a recovery through the state comp system for his alleged laboratory exposure to an infectious virus, a New York appellate court ruled.

In the Matter of Empire State Transportation Workers' Compensation Trust v. Special Funds Conservation Committee, 2013-05675, (02/25/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a group self-insurance trust didn't necessarily forfeit its entitlement to reimbursement for the benefits it had paid to a worker from the Special Disability Fund by failing to get the Conservation Committee's consent to a settlement that an injured worker had entered into.