In New Mexico And Workers’ Comp, It’s Deja Vu All Over Again

Seriously, people, there are some things in workers’ comp that you would think, after 100 or more years, would have been settled by now. Yet we keep wasting time in court fighting the same battles. A story out of New Mexico last week shows that to be the case. I understand that some court cases we see are unique for their times. Is a cap on attorney’s fees fair and constitutional? Do the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment 6th Edition fairly rate injured workers’ disabilities, or in the case of Pennsylvania’s Protz case, does the statutory language authorizing the 6th edition hold muster? But this case in New Mexico? It had to determine if a man who fell down and broke his arm while on the clock and at the worksite had a compensable injury. Not exactly precedent setting stuff.