» District of Columbia

COURT OF APPEALS CLARIFIES THE METHOD TO ASSIGN PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY AWARDS UNDER THE D C WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ACT Like many other workers’ compensation statutes, the D.C. Workers’ Compensation Act [Act] provides a schedule setting forth the amount of benefits that may be awarded for the permanent disability… Read More

Compensation awarded in an Order must be “paid within 10 days after it becomes due” or a statutorily mandated twenty-percent penalty shall be imposed. D.C. Code § 32-1515. In Daly v. D.C. Dep't of Empl. Servs., 2015 D.C. App. LEXIS 359, 12-13 (D.C. Aug. 6, 2015), the Court held that payment becomes … Read More

The District of Columbia Workers Compensation Act provides for an automatic assignment of the right to sue a third party to the employer if the person entitled to compensation does not file suit within six months after being awarded compensation in an order. D.C. Code § 32-1535(b). This provision had been applied to ba… Read More

Partner Steve Schwinn, assisted by Raphael Cohen, of Jordan Coyne, LLP secured the dismissal of all claims against a District of Columbia nightclub owner seeking damages arising from the death of a graduate school student who became involved in a fight outside a fast food restaurant with three men who had been served alcoho… Read More

In Aguilar v. RP MRP Washington Harbor, LLC __ A.3d __ (D.C. Sept. 4, 2014), the D.C. Court of Appeals considered the issue whether the District of Columbia will follow the majority of jurisdictions by adopting the “economic loss doctrine” which prohibits claims of negligence where a claimant seeks to recover pu… Read More

We previously noted the decision in Cincinnati Insurance Co. v. All Plumbing, Inc., Civil Action No. 12-851 (D.D.C. Oct. 18, 2013)(Kollar-Kotelly, J.), where the Court held that Cincinnati Insurance's failure to properly reserve its rights and five-month delay in disclaiming coverage while controlling important actions… Read More

In Scott v. Burgin, No. 12-V-1474 (D.C. Aug. 14, 2014), the Court reversed a $255,000 jury award in a legal malpractice case against a divorce attorney. The plaintiff was not a client of the defendant law firm, and consequently the Court held that the defendant's duty of care did not extend to the Plaintiff, and revers… Read More

“Can cell phones cause brain cancer?” That is a fundamental issue in Murray v. Motorola, Case No. 2001 CA 008479 (Superior Court for the District of Columbia, Aug. 8, 2014), in which Judge Frederick H. Weisberg has issued a 76 page opinion, ruling on the defendants’ Dyas/Frye challenges to the admissibilit… Read More