Case Law Update: Stephens & Sturdivant

04/18/23 • 34 min

This one has been 12 years in the making. Ever since the Act was changed in 2011 and a 500-week cap installed regarding entitlement to indemnity benefits, employers and employees have been waiting for the Court of Appeals to decide what it actually takes to have benefits extended beyond 500 weeks. And now we have our answer. Or do we? The Court of Appeals actually vacated its own decision and will reassess after essentially eliminating the 500-week cap by its original decision. We will discuss this case along with a Woodson analysis of what it takes for an employer to be sued in civil court and not have the exclusive remedy protection typically afforded under the Act.

Previous Episode

Arising Out of the Employment (Social Activities)

Employee injures his ankle playing volleyball at a company picnic. Not compensable. Employee injures her ankle dancing at the company Christmas party. Compensable. Say what? Injuries that occur during social activities hinge not on the injury, itself, but the voluntariness of the activity the injury occurred during. There are a set of guideposts to follow when receiving these fact patterns, and this episode will cover all of them.

Next Episode

Sturdivant 2.0

12 hours after the last episode published, the Court of Appeals came out with its revised decision in Sturdivant. The verdict? The 500-week cap on indemnity benefits is gone. I will discuss this decision and take a deep dive into what is actually left of the alleged pro-employer amendments that were made to the Act in 2011. I will also discuss what a veto-proof General Assembly can do to immediately address the problems that have arisen since those amendments were enacted 12 years ago.