Philadelphia Workers' Compensation Law Blog

Becoming a homeowner is supposed to offer security. You invest in a property and then spend your time and money maintaining or improving it. That effort pays off with increased property value. Over time, you can either choose to cash out some of that equity when you get older or sell your home for a profit and downsize as you age.

Unfortunately for some people, the investment they make in their home is not as protected as they might believe. Without the right insurance, you could lose your home, as well as the equity you have accrued in it over the years. There are circumstances in which someone else may have a legal claim to the property you purchased.

As an Estate Practitioner, I've had my fair share of clients with unusual requests in their Wills. Without going into detail, and therefore potentially violating attorney-client privilege, I can say that some of them have been absolutely hilarious, others have been down right hurtful, and some have been, well just plain weird. In any event, it usually comes down to the Testator (the person who makes the Will) wanting some sort of control from the grave. Whether it is a specific instruction regarding his or her burial, or putting restrictions on a relative inheriting from his or her estate, it usually comes down to that person wanting, in a sense, to live beyond their death and have an impact in some manner.

Workers' compensation has a substantial set of rules when it comes to filing for benefits and getting the medical care the injured worker needs. These are generally inflexible, so it is no surprise that an employee of a Home Depot in Kansas is now stuck with a substantial bill. According to several news reports, the employee sought reimbursement for medical expenses involving doctors that were not authorized by her employer, but a three-judge panel ruled in favor of the commission because the medical care was not preauthorized by her employer or an administrative law judge.

The employee originally slipped and fell in 2007 while working at Home Depot. She suffered injuries to her neck, back and right arm at the time. From 2007 to 2013, she filed nine applications for preliminary hearings, while participating in four of them. Finally, in 2013 she settled for 28-percent impairment to the whole body injury settlement with the option to get additional care in the future related to the original injuries if she applied for care through workers' compensation.

Many took note when the news of potential radiation contamination at the Grand Canyon made national news. There were three large buckets of uranium rocks indigenous to the area stored at the Museum Collections Building on the Southern Rim. Situated next to a taxidermy exhibit, the buckets had sat there from 2000 to June of 2018. The exhibit was sometimes a stopping spot on tours for kids.

The park's safety inspector Elston "Swede" Stephenson brought this to the attention of the public after trying in vain to get superiors or even local politicians to address the matter and inform the public that the six million annual visitors to the park may have been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation. Of course, this would also affect employees as well.