October 2021

Workers Comp 101: How An Attorney Can Help You Recover

You’ve been injured on the job. Now what?
No matter the severity of your injury, workers’ compensation can help cover medical bills and wages lost due to your injury, as long as you file a claim within the appropriate amount of time and with sufficient information.
In order to be eligible for a claim, your injury will need to fall under one or more specific circumstances, including: injury by accident, a specific traumatic injury or an occupational illness or disease. If you’re hospitalized, miss work, need surgery, have a head injury or lose consciousness due to your injury, then your injury is serious enough for a claim.
Workers should ensure they understand the rules of workers’ compensation and who they should report their injury to so

Police Use of Force and Misconduct in California

In the summer of 2020, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Department officer precipitated widespread protests and amplified calls for policing reform. This killing came after years of high-profile deaths of Black civilians—including Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Stephon Clark, among others—during encounters with police, and refocused efforts among policymakers at all levels of government to increase police accountability and transparency.

At the federal level, Congress was considering major reforms related to policing practices and law enforcement accountability, though legislators were unable to reach an agreement on a final bill.(1) The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would have, among several other provisions, established national standards for police use of force, required state and local law enforcement agencies to report use-of-force data, and created a nationwide registry for police misconduct to make it more difficult for officers to change jurisdictions after committing misconduct.

In the last several years,

Walmart must pay pharmacist $27.5M for denying her breaks, overtime pay

The District Court of Central California on Oct. 20 awarded $27.5 million to Afrouz Nikmanesh, PharmD, after she filed a class-action lawsuit against Walmart, her former employer.

Six things to know:

The pharmacist originally filed the case in Orange County Superior Court in 2015. It was later moved to the District Court of Central California, according to Courthouse News Service.

In her complaint, Dr. Nikmanesh said Walmart denied her breaks and overtime wages, gave her inaccurate wage statements and terminated her employment wrongfully. She also said the retail giant forced her to study for and take an immunization certification exam but did not compensate her for this off-the-clock work.

During her time as a Walmart pharmacist, Dr. Nikmanesh drew attention to noncompliance issues, claiming the pharmacy charged Medicare patients above the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate and did not provide eligible beneficiaries with their Medicare discounts. She also said Walmart did not

Federal Panel Rules Against Nursing Homes; COVID-19 Lawsuits Belong in State Court

In an early blow to skilled nursing facilities, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against two nursing homes in New Jersey, finding the COVID-19 lawsuits should continue in state court.

Negligence and wrongful-death lawsuits were initially filed in April 2020 in state court against Andover Subacute & Rehabilitation I & II by families of four residents who died of COVID-19. The ruling, issued last week, is believed to be the first decided by a federal appeals court on the matter, according to the opinion.

The lawsuits alleged the facilities did not take precautions to contain the spread of COVID-19, including failing to monitor food preparation, failing to provide personal protective equipment and allowing visitors and employees to enter the facilities without taking their temperatures or making them wear a mask, the ruling stated.

After the lawsuits were filed in state court the nursing home defendants requested the cases be transferred to district court. The district court judge dismissed the case because it lacked jurisdiction and sent it back to state court, according to the opinion. The nursing homes appealed that decision.

The defendant nursing homes argued on appeal that they were covered by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP), and the cases should be heard in federal court.

What Is the Philips CPAP MDL?

In June 2021, Philips Respironics recalled millions of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and other respiratory devices after receiving complaints of defects and new or worsened illnesses from consumers. The complaints and legal claims that followed were due to the breakdown of the polyurethane (PE-PUR) foam, which exists to provide a noise-abating layer, in certain models.

The PE-PUR foam degradation in Philips CPAP machines caused some consumers to ingest and even inhale toxic and carcinogenic compounds. This could lead to a range of illnesses, including chemical poisoning, asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, and liver damage.

By the end of September, 93 proposed class action lawsuits were filed against Philips in response to injuries, risks, and disruptive use of affected CPAP machines. Since then, even more lawsuits have emerged.

Due to the similarity of these claims, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) ruled to consolidate 110 federal lawsuits against Philips in multidistrict litigation (MDL).

Month: October 2021