Workers' Compensation Law Commons^™

A Regulatory Policy Strategy For Protecting Immigrant Workers, W. Kip Viscusi, N. Marquiss

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Immigration has become a focal point of many political campaigns, most notably that of President Trump in 2016 and again in 2020. Populist rhetoric also decries immigrant workers for taking Americans' jobs and depressing wages for U.S.-born workers. Yet immigrants serve a constructive role by working in some of the most dangerous occupations in the country. It is well-known that immigrant workers, particularly those from Mexico with limited English language skills, face a higher workplace fatality rate than native workers. Efforts to reverse this trend have long been the focus of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which undertook …

Asymmetric Effects On Fatality Rates Of Changes In Workers' Compensation Laws, W. Kip Viscusi, Elissa Philip Gentry

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

With irreversible investments in safety, changes in workers' compensation laws should affect employer incentives asymmetrically: increases in workers' compen- sation generosity should cause employers to invest more in safety, but comparable decreases might not cause them to disinvest in existing precautionary programs or equipment. Although maximum weekly benefits caps have been fairly stable, state laws have expanded or restricted workers' compensation on multiple other dimensions. State laws may impose new requirements regarding burdens of proof, access to medical care, and the duration of benefits. This article estimates the effect of changes in these more comprehensive measures of workers' compensa- tion …

The Heterogeneity Of The Value Of Statistical Life: Introduction And Overview, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The refinement in worker fatality risk data used in hedonic wage studies and evidence from new stated preference studies have facilitated the exploration of the heterogeneity of the value of statistical life (VSL). Although the median VSL estimate for workers is $7-$8 million, the VSL varies considerably within the worker population. New estimates of the income elasticity of VSL are 1.0 or above, which are consistent with theoretical models linking VSL to the coefficient of relative risk aversion. The specific relationship between VSL and risk aversion is, however, more complex than previously understood. Age differences in VSL are substantial, with …

Hiv As An Occupational Disease: Expanding Traditional Workers' Compensation Coverage, Nikita Williams

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome ("AIDS") was first identified in 1981, this disease has had far-reaching social and economic consequences across the country. One of the most profound effects of the AIDS epidemic can be seen in the public health care system. While infection control measures have long been in place to reduce transmission of the disease in the health care setting, in the years following the initial discovery of AIDS, health care workers ("HCWs") were particularly concerned about the possibility of contracting the lethal disease from their patients. Furthermore, although the risk of transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus …

Emerging Issues In Sports Law: Symposium Transcript, Steve Underwood, Christopher Whitson

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

First we manage our litigation and clients. And we have a wide range of claims and suits to take care of. There are league-wide suits. There are labor arbitrations. There are player suits, from time-to-time. And you know the Corey Stringer case that's been filed in Minnesota, for example. We had a somewhat similar experience a few years ago that ended up as a ... cert. denied case of the United States Supreme Court, Smith v. Houston Oilers, a 1996 Fifth Circuit case .... We have a lot of workers' comp problems in our business. Our workcomp expense this year …

Workers' Compensation And Injury Duration: Evidence From A Natural Experiment, W. Kip Viscusi, Bruce D. Meyer, David L. Durbin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This paper examines the effect of workers' compensation on time out of work. It introduces a "natural experiment" approach of comparing individuals injured before and after increases in the maximum weekly benefit amount. The increases examined in Kentucky and Michigan raised the benefit amount for high-earnings individuals by approximately 50 percent, while low-earnings individuals, who were unaffected by the benefit maximum, did not experience a change in their incentives. Time out of work increased for those eligible for the higher benefits and remained unchanged for those whose benefits were constant. The estimated duration elasticities are clustered around 0.3-0.4.

Worker Learning And Compensating Differentials, W. Kip Viscusi, Michael J. Moore

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In the standard compensating wage differential model, workers value their wage and workers' compensation components based on full job risk information. Market forces generate positive wage differentials as ex ante compensation for exposure to relatively high risk. Similarly, market forces generate wage offsets for the increases in ex post risk compensation embodied in workers' compensation benefits. These predictions can be modified to take into account potential imperfections in worker information, as in Viscusi (1979a,b, 1980a,b,d), where the role of learning is incorporated into the worker's decision model. The potential for learning about risks introduces a new market response through worker …

Promoting Safety Through Workers' Compensation: The Efficacy And Net Wage Costs Of Injury Insurance, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article explores the effects of workers' compensation on fatality rates and wages using the 1982 Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the new occupational fatality data issued by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The fatality rate depends upon the workers' compensation benefit variables in a manner that suggests that the safety incentive effects of higher insurance premiums offset any moral hazard effects. The estimates imply that in the absence of workers' compensation, fatality rates would increase by over 20%. Premium levels substantially overstate the cost of workers' compensation, due primarily to a direct wage offset from …

Workers' Compensation: Wage Effects, Benefit Inadequacies, And The Value Of Health Losses, W. Kip Viscusi, Michael J. Moore

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Using the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey in conjunction with BLS risk series and state workers' compensation benefit formulas, the authors assess the labor market implications of workers' compensation. Higher levels of workers' compensation benefits reduce wage levels, and controlling for workers' compensation raises estimates of compensating differentials for risk. The rate of trade-off between wages and workers' compensation suggests that benefit levels provide suboptimal levels of income insurance, abstracting from moral hazard considerations. The value of non-monetary losses from job injuries (including pain and suffering and non-work disability) is estimated to be $17,000-$26,000.

An Analysis Of The Legal, Social, And Political Issues Raised By Asbestos Litigation, John P. Burns, G. Edward Cassady, Iii, Kenneth B. Cole, Jr., Timothy R. Dodson, Philip E. Holladay, Jr., Paul C. Ney, Jr., Drew T. Parobek, Kimberly Payne, D. Blaine Sanders, L. D. Simmons, Ii, Charles D. Maguire, Jr. Special Project Editor, Laurin Blumenthal Associate Special Project Editor

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Special Project examines the most important issues of the asbestos problem and advocates a congressional solution (1) to relieve the courts of the thousands of present and potential asbestos cases, (2) to protect future claimants' rights to adequate compensation, and (3) to provide for equitable participation by all responsible parties, which, in addition to asbestos manufacturers,include the federal government, insurance companies, and the tobacco industry. The first six parts of the Special Project examine the various issues of asbestos litigation: theories of liability in products liability suits against asbestos manufacturers, causation,defenses, statutory limitations on actions, collateral estoppel, and punitive …

The Causation Issue In Workers'compensation Mental Disability Cases: An Analysis, Solutions, And A Perspective, Lawrence Joseph

Vanderbilt Law Review

Cases under workers' compensation systems that concern mental disabilities present special problems in the determination of causation. In this Article Mr. Joseph argues that the complexities inherent in a decision whether a mental disability has arisen out of employment force administrative agencies and courts in these cases to engage in normative evaluative inquiries. These inquiries, according to Mr. Joseph, result in findings that potentially frustrate the underlying compromise policy of workers' compensation systems; these evaluative decisions create classes of claimants that may be under or over inclusive. Mr. Joseph describes several possible solutions to this problem and concludes by reviewing …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Act of State Doctrine does not Preclude Inquiry by United States Court into Alleged Repudiation by a Foreign Government of its Obligation Arising from a Purely Commercial Transaction

Admiralty Jurisdiction Extends inland to Automobile Accident Caused by the Negligence of Ship's Crew

Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Incorporates the Long-Shoremen's and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act, and includes Provisions Depriving Claims by Outer Continental Shelf Employees Injured on the Job against Vessel Ownerbased upon Breach of Warranty of Seaworthiness

University's Restrictive Definition of Domicile, which Precludes Nonimmigrant Aliens from Attaining "In-State" Status for Tuition Purposes, Does not Violate Due Process

Order …

Recent Decisions, Steven A. O'Rourke, Henry C. Wood, Jr., Christopher Ryan, Phyllis K. Fong, Clifford D. Harmon

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Admiralty--Workmen's Compensation--Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act covers Waterfront Injuries to Cargo Handlers Who sometimes work Offshore or Who unpack Containers

Steven A. O'Rourke

===========================

European Communities--Restrictive Practices--Abuse of Dominant Position--Discriminatory or Unfair Pricing Policies among EEC Customers by a Corporation in a Dominant Market Position Infringes Article 86 of the EEC Treaty

Henry Clay Wood, Jr.

===========================

Federal Jurisdiction--State Regulation of Interstate Commerce--Federal Courts have Jurisdiction to Enjoin State Officials from Enforcing State Laws Regulating Interstate Tanker Trade where Congress intended that Federal Regulations Pre-empt the Area

Christopher Ryan

===========================

Securities Regulation--Jurisdiction--Allegations that an International Securities Transaction involving Stock …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Injunctions--Contempt Power--Citation Proper Against Nonparty Who Violates Court Order in School Desegregation Case

Whether an injunction or other order binds one not a party to the underlying suit or proceeding so that he may be held in contempt for violation is a question that always has troubled the courts. Some early cases purported to announce a sweeping and apparently absolute rule--that an injunction or other order does not bind nonparties. The principle underlying this rule is that due process forbids a court to adjudicate the legal rights and relationships of a person who has not had the opportunity to be …

Workmen's Compensation At Sea, Charles D. Evens

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the present time there are three possible remedies available to seamen who are injured in the course of their employment. In order to maintain any of these actions, the injured party must of course qualify as a seaman. The traditional tests used to determine whether a maritime worker is a seaman are as follows: 1) the vessel must be in navigation, 2) the worker must have a more or less permanent connection with the vessel, and 3) the worker must be aboard the vessel primarily to aid in navigation. These standards have been somewhat modified by Offshore Company v. …

Mental And Nervous Injury In Workmen's Compensation, Arthur Larson

Vanderbilt Law Review

"[H]ow could it be real when. . .it was purely mental?" This poignant judicial cry out of the past, which I occasionally quote to put down my psychiatrist friends, contains the clue to almost all of the trouble that has attended the development of workmen's compensation law related to mental and nervous injuries. This equation of "mental" with "unreal," or imaginary, or phoney, is so ingrained that it has achieved a firm place in our idiomatic language. Who has not at some time, in dismissing a physical complaint of some suffering friend or relative, airily waved the complaint aside by …

The Case For A Seagoing Workmen's Compensation Act, Parker B. Smith

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the present time no comprehensive workmen's compensation statute exists to provide coverage for seamen injured in the course of their employment. The seaman's only existing remedies consist of an action for maintenance and cure, an action for breach of the shipowner's warranty of seaworthiness, and an action for negligence under the Jones Act. These remedies offer unsatisfactory protection to the seaman for several reasons. Under the existing remedies the seaman may be unable to obtain any recovery because the shipowner has the traditional right to "limit liability" to the seaman at the outset of the seaman's action for recovery. …

Dependency In Workmen's Compensation:Letting The Expectations And Conduct Of Affected Parties Play A More Significant Role, Clifford Davis

Vanderbilt Law Review

The death benefits provided by compensation legislation must satisfy two tests. First, the benefits should cover the net economic loss resulting from occupational death.' Second, those survivors who could have expected to benefit from future earnings ought to share appropriately in the sum total of the benefits provided. This article focuses primarily upon this second question. The inadequacy of available benefits, however, may require the exclusion as beneficiaries of some survivors with expectations of support in order more adequately to provide for others. Thus, inadequacy of total benefits will be considered when it is relevant to the determination of who …

Workmen's Compensation For Radiation Injuries In Tennessee, E. Blythe Stason

Vanderbilt Law Review

We lay to one side, so far as this article is concerned, the impact of the atom on general tort liability in Tennessee. Such important aspects of the total subject as strict liability, nuisance actions, third-party liability, and joint and several liability we reserve for another occasion. Hopefully radiation will be so well regulated that the injuries to outsiders will be few and far between. We also lay to one side possible injuries in Tennessee resulting from the extensive operations of the federal government in the nuclear field. Such injuries receive special handling either by federal agencies (e.g.,the Bureau of …

Some Recent Developments In The Substantive Law Of Workmen's Compensation, Wex S. Malone

Vanderbilt Law Review

After setting out the factors which make for change in the compensation structure, the author goes on to discuss three problem areas in which that change is clearly visible: distinguishing between employees and independent contractors, determining tho rights of a borrowed employee, and deciding whether an accident arose out of the employment. He concludes that the law of workmen's compensation is developing in consonance with the social philosophy which underlies it.

Covered Employment And Compensable Injury Concepts In Tennessee, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article surveys the existing law of Tennessee applicable to the problems of determining what is covered employment and what constitutes a compensable injury. The survey indicates no radical differences between the law of Tennessee and that of most American jurisdictions,although there are a few troublesome problems in particular areas, such as the "Act of God" and "positional risk" cases.

Trial Practice And Tactics In Employee Injury Cases -- The Plaintiff's Viewpoint, Benjamin Marcus

Vanderbilt Law Review

The author, a practitioner with extensive experience in the workmen's compensation field, sets out a number of "do's" and "don't's" for the successful representation of plaintiffs in employee injury cases, especially with regard to the handling of medical evidence. He also points out defects in the existing law, and calls upon the bar to fulfill its social role by supporting remedial legislation.

The General Structure Of Law Applicable To Employee Injury And Death, Ben F. Small

Vanderbilt Law Review

The author here shows how the failure of the common law to cope with the problem of industrial injury led to the passage of workmen's compensation legislation. After examining the basic structure of that legislation, he turns to an extensive discussion of the problems of federal preemption and the interrelation of workmen's compensation with other wage loss programs (including a comparison with the British system). In conclusion, he catalogues the criticisms of the present system, and suggests that the area is ripe for further action by the federal government.

Workmen's Compensation And The Social Security Disability Program: A Contrast, Arthur Abraham, Irwin Wolkstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recently, concern has been expressed that the federal disability insurance program may expand and engulf state workmen's compensation systems; legislation aimed at eliminating this possibility has been introduced in Congress. The authors attempt in this article to shed some light on the controversy; after describing the various disability protection programs, they turn to a detailed discussion of the overlap, interrelationship, and differences between the protection offered by the federal social security and state workmen's compensation programs. They conclude by discussing the arguments which can be made both for and against an "offset" provision in the social security law.

Trial Practice And Tactics In Employee Injury Cases -- The Defendant's Viewpoint, Don M. Jackson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Due to the liberal construction that courts give workmen's compensation statutes, the employer has heavy odds against him in most cases. Nevertheless, the author concludes, defense counsel should not despair. Hard work and proper preparation will still yield handsome rewards, especially in those cases in which the principal issue is the nature and extent of disability.

The Law Of Workmen's Compensation And Employers' Liability: A Selected List Of Materials 1950-1963, Cyril L. Mcdermott

Vanderbilt Law Review

Professor McDermott has compiled in this article a comprehensive reference guide to the materials of workmen's compensation law. In addition to general works, current specialized sources are arranged by jurisdiction for easy reference.

Workmen's Compensation -- 1962 Tennessee Survey, J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Tennessee Supreme Court was again faced with a substantial number of workmen's compensation cases during the current survey year. Fewer of the cases than usual were concerned primarily with whether the decision below was supported by sufficient evidence. However, a number of them were illustrative of aspects of the statutory requirement that an employee suffer an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment in order to be eligible for workmen's compensation benefits.

Agency -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), W. Harold Bigham

Vanderbilt Law Review

I. Employee and Independent Contractor Distinguished

During the abbreviated survey period there were no significant or momentous decisions by Tennessee courts--state or federal--involving agency principles. Indeed the only state appellate case properly to be considered here involved the rather pedestrian question of whether a petitioner for workmen's compensation benefits was, vis-a-vis the defendant prime contractor, an employee or an independent contractor.

=================================

II. Misrepresentations of Agent

Butts v. Colonial Refrigerated Transportation, Inc. is merely another example of the Sixth Circuit's unfortunate proclivity for writing per curiam affirmances. It is well-nigh impossible to determine whether the liability of the defendant which …

Workmen's Compensation -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since the workmen's compensation statute was designed to provide benefits for an employee's work-connected injury or death, it necessarily follows that there must have been an employment relationship within the coverage of the statute and that the person or persons claiming the benefits must be within the class entitled to do so. The application of this basic premise, which on its face appears simple enough, was involved in three cases before the Tennessee Supreme Court during the survey period.

Bowling v. Whitley was a workmen's compensation suit brought by an employee against his immediate employer, a subcontractor, as well as …

Workmen's Compensation -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Two bills amending the Workmen's Compensation Law' were enacted during the survey year. The first placed a limit of $12,500 on compensation payable for any permanent partial injury, not limited to those set forth in the schedule. It also added the following self-explanatory sentence to the first paragraph of section 50-1027, Tennessee Code Annotated: To receive benefits from the Second Injury Fund, the injured employee must be the employee of an employer who has properly insured his workmen's compensation liability or has qualified to operate under the Tennessee Workmen's Compensation Law as a self-insurer. The second amendment changed the definition …