Worker's Compensation: Upholding the Compensation Principle
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Authors
Butler, Lisa Smith
Issue Date
1983
Volume
16
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Worker's compensation is a statutory scheme designed to compensate individuals for work-related injuries and diseases. Unlike the law of torts, worker's compensation is not concerned with righting a wrong. Neither is it a personal insurance policy for the employee. Rather, it is a system aimed at compensating employees for injuries and diseases caused by, or related to, their employment. During the survey period, the Supreme Court of Nebraska decided four significant worker's compensation cases. In Sandel v. Packaging Company of America, the court permitted recovery for a gradual, wear and tear injury and expressly set out the conditions necessary to satisfy the requirement that an accident happen "suddenly and violently." A sharply divided court announced in McGinn v. Douglas County Social Services Administration that when an injury is caused by the elements-such as a thunderstorm-the court will employ the "increased risk" test to determine whether the injury arose out of the worker's employment. In Husted v. Peter Kiewit & Sons Construction Co., the court, again sharply divided, ruled that the phrase "more likely" meant only a "possibility" and, thus, a physician's testimony that it was more likely than not that Husted had sustained his neck injury at the same time he injured his back was insufficient to satisfy the preponderance of the evidence standard of proof...
Description
Citation
16 Creighton L. Rev. 419 (1982-1983)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law