Louisiana Federal Court Allows Terminated Employee’s False Claims Act Retaliation Claim To Proceed
Posted on May 7, 2014
In 2012, an operator at an industrial facility was allegedly exposed to sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide gas leaking from the facility’s equipment. He subsequently sought medical treatment and notified his supervisors of the leak and his medical treatment due to chemical exposure. The employee also provided factual information and deposition testimony regarding the incident in an underlying qui tam action arising out of his employer’s alleged cover-up of the leak. He later alleged retaliation in the form of harassment, disciplinary actions, and termination in a lawsuit against his...
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Family of Worker Killed While Fleeing Immigration Raid Not Entitled to Workers’ Compensation Benefits in North Carolina
Posted on May 6, 2014
Earlier today, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina affirmed an administrative ruling that a worker’s surviving family was not entitled to collect workers’ compensation benefits where the worker suffered a fatal heart attack while running away from a suspected raid by the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the lumber mill in which he worked. The court explained that the North Carolina Industrial Commission’s conclusion that the worker’s death did not arise out of his employment was supported by competent evidence, specifically that he died while fleeing an apparent immigration raid...
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Union Members’ Whistleblower Claims Alleging Unsafe Work Conditions Brought Under Michigan Law Preempted by NLRA
Posted on May 6, 2014
The Supreme Court of Michigan held yesterday that union members’ claims asserted under the Michigan Whistleblowers’ Protection Act alleging retaliation for reporting of unsafe work environments are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act and must be litigated exclusively before the National Labor Relations Board. The court, however, held that claims brought under the same Michigan statute alleging retaliation for reporting suspected criminal misconduct were not preempted by the National Labor Relations Act or the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. The court explained that...
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Fourth Circuit Reverses Benefits Review Board Yet Again in Long-Pending Black Lung Case
Posted on May 6, 2014
In a case highlighting the often-criticized administrative delays within the U.S. Department of Labor’s adjudication process, the Fourth Circuit reversed a decision by the Benefits Review Board affirming an ALJ’s denial of survivor’s benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act (“the Act”) and awarded benefits to a surviving miner’s spouse. The procedural delays in the resolution of the spouse’s claim, however, are striking. The miner, who worked for 36 years in the industry, filed a claim for lifetime benefits under the Act when he stopped working in 1983. In 1988, an ALJ awarded him...
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Louisiana Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment to Platform Operator in Case Filed by Drilling Services Contractor’s Injured Worker
Posted on May 6, 2014
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted summary judgment to the owner of a fixed tower oil platform that was sued by an injured worker employed by a drilling services contractor. The worker suffered injuries while performing the removal of a piece of equipment in order to conduct wireline operations. When the worker arrived at the equipment needing to be removed, he determined it was too heavy to manually lift because it exceeded his employer’s work rule that any objects in excess of 50 pounds must be moved by machinery or crane. Upon radioing his supervisor...
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Prison Sentence for Coal Mine Owner Underscores Need for Transparency with Safety Investigators
Posted on May 6, 2014
On Friday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia sentenced a coal mine owner to three months in prison and ordered him to pay a $3,000 fine for lying to an MSHA agent during a June 2009 investigation. The court also fined the coal company $25,000 and placed it on probation for a year. In June 2009, MSHA inspectors determined that someone at the mine illegally wired the electrical connections to a belt feeder without any ground fault protection, which created a serious safety risk. The coal mine owner allegedly lied to an MSHA agent about who performed the wiring and...
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Ninth Circuit Reemphasizes That Challenges to Expert Credibility and the Strength of a Particular Scientific Method Best Left for Jury
Posted on May 5, 2014
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s exclusion of expert testimony in a water contamination case that is instructive for expert challenges in any safety-related case. The City of Pomona, California filed suit against the company that imported sodium nitrate into the United States from 1927 through the 1950s from Chile’s Atacama Desert on the grounds that the fertilizer containing this chemical was the most likely dominant source of alleged perchlorate contamination in the city’s water supply. The city’s expert witness on causation relied on a “stable isotope analysis.” The...
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