Category Archives: philosophy


Sequester Whacks Injured Workers

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Today’s post comes from guest author Jay Causey from Causey Law Firm.

Injured workers with claims under the Longshore & Harbor Workers Act and the Defense Base Act, who are awaiting hearings by federal administrative law judges (ALJs), have now had their cases seriously impacted by the Sequester.  The Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ), with District Offices in seven cities including San Francisco, schedules hearings not only in those cities but in other venues in the District.  The San Francisco office schedules hearings in San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Denver and elsewhere, and so-called Calendar Calls are scheduled in those cities by traveling ALJs. 

The Sequester has caused the San Francisco office…to cancel all travel by ALJs until at least October, when a new fiscal year for OALJ may refresh its travel budget.

The Sequester has caused the San Francisco office, which covers a larger geographical territory than any other, to cancel all travel by ALJs until at least October, when a new fiscal year for OALJ may refresh its travel budget.  No further Calendars in outlying cities will be scheduled until at least October.  In the meantime, the parties may agree to bring their witnesses to San Francisco for hearings (or agree to a telephonic hearing – rarely a good alternative), but both sides must to agree to the alternative process.  The cost of bringing the claimant and expert witnesses to San Francisco, even if jointly agreed to, makes that a mostly unrealistic option.

The cancellation of travel for ALJs makes the system even more unfair to claimants.

The likelihood is that, in claims where the insurance carrier is denying benefits, many carriers will simply choose to wait out the claimants for the many additional months delay the Sequester budget issue gives them.  An terribly-burdensome delay already exists in this system, as ALJ decisions on cases typically take one to two years to issue after the trial.  The cancellation of travel for ALJs makes the system even more unfair to claimants.  Because of the long delay in getting to a hearing and then to a decision, a large number of cases in which hearings are requested ultimately end up settling in an alternative dispute resolution process called “mediation,” as both sides wish to arrive at settlement without the work and expense of getting ready for trial and then a long wait for a decision.  A scheduled hearing is what mostly drives the parties to mediate these cases.  But with six months of cancelled Calendars in non-District Office cities,  claimants attorneys worry that insurance carriers will feel under far less pressure to bring these cases to the mediation table.

 

Photo credit: jaymallinphotos / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

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Cell Phone Ban for Many Nebraska Rigs Set for 2013

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Today’s post comes from guest author Rod Rehm from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.

Starting in 2013, Nebraska is adopting a federal regulation that bans cell-phone use in any truck over 10,000 pounds. The rule applies to truck-driving professionals with 18 wheels, as would be expected. But it also includes pick-up trucks pulling horse trailers and lawn-care companies – anyone who meets the weight requirements. Many more folks in the state will benefit from decreased distracted driving, so plan ahead to change cell-phone habits! Put that Cell Phone Down and Come Out with Your Hands Up (www.nebraska.tv) Let me call you back when I get to Kansas! That’s what commercial truck drivers will have to start saying starting January 1st of next year.

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Diesel Fumes and Lung Cancer

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Diesel Fumes Cause Lung Cancer

Today’s post comes from guest author Leonard Jernigan from The Jernigan Law Firm.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. It’s greater than breast and colon cancer in women and greater than prostate, colon, pancreatic and liver cancer in men. If diagnosed early there is a 70-80% survival rate for 5 years, and a low-dose CT scan of the chest can detect 60-70% of lung cancers at an early stage. Unfortunately, there has been no significant progress in the treatment of lung cancer in 40 years and between 10,000–20,000 occupational lung cancer deaths occur each year in the United States.

One area of concern is the relationship between diesel exhaust exposure and lung cancer. In June of 2012 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans, and studies of underground miners support that statement and also indicate that others who are around diesel fumes may be at an increased risk. Toxic chemicals in diesel gas are nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, benzene, PAHS (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), aldehydes and nitro-PAHS.

Railroad workers, miners, truck drivers, bus operators, longshoremen and others who have been heavily exposed to diesel fumes are obviously at greater risk than those with less exposures, but even minimal exposures may cause harm. In urban areas, like lower Manhattan, there is concern that diesel exposures may be a public health hazard and detection systems have been placed in areas to collect exposure data. As for workers who have experienced intense, short-term duration to diesel fumes, a chemical called 1-hydroxypyrene may be elevated in urine, but the test for this marker is not performed by most commercial laboratories. The Mount Sinai – Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine is studying diesel exposure and may be a good resource for future information, as well as the National Clean Diesel Campaign: www.epa.gov/diesel.

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