July 21, 2025
Who is Not an Independent Contractor

On March 14, 2024, the claimant was in a motor vehicle accident while operating the leased truck, and he stopped working for the employer afterwards. The claimant filed a claim for temporary medical benefits and medical benefits. The employer contested the claim by arguing that the claimant was an independent contractor, and thus they are not liable for worker’s compensation benefits.

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July 21, 2025
Exception to the Coming and Going Rule

In Roadsafe Traffic Systems, two claimants were seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident during their commute to work in a RoadSafe company truck. RoadSafe disputed the claims, arguing that the claimants’ injuries did not arise out of and in the course of their employment as they were commuting to work.

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July 21, 2025
Repaying Benefits and Mileage Reimbursement Due to Fraud

In Gallegos, the claimant sustained an admitted work injury to his neck on September 5, 2019. From September 2019 to April 2022, Claimant alleged considerable pain in his neck, back, and left shoulder. Claimant also reported to his medical providers that he had lower back surgery in 2012, but no other medical history. When his authorized treating providers released him to restricted duty around late October 2019, the claimant worked for two days before asserting he could no longer work due to the pain, and he never returned to work. Upon further investigation, the employer found that the claimant had asserted prior worker’s compensation claims and applied for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits on multiple occasions based on alleged neck, back, and shoulder injuries.

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March 25, 2025
Retroactive Safety Violation Benefit Reduction Not Time Barred by Statute

In Sorensen, the Industrial Claim Appeals Office (the Panel) set aside the ALJ’s order denying an application for hearing to retroactively reduce a parking lot security guard’s compensation by 50% based on the claimant’s alleged violation of a safety rule.

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March 25, 2025
Summary Judgment on Untimely Claim

A claimant files a workers' compensation claim for alleged mold exposure listing the date of injury over a decade prior and requesting a hearing for a previous claim during that period declaring it a fraudulent settlement.

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March 25, 2025
Mechanism of Injury Consistent with Activities of Daily Living

A heavy equipment operator in a mine testifies that when an excavator dropped dirt and rock into his long haul truck bed he felt back pain and later suffered pneumonia from the accident.

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March 25, 2025
Attendant Services – Reasonably Necessary and Compensable

In Enterprise and Cannon Cochran v. Mohamed, the Colorado Court of Appeals (the Court) held that daily attendant services were reasonably necessary as maintenance care for a claimant who sustained long-lasting mental health conditions from her work-related injuries.

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March 25, 2025
UIM Carriers and Immunity - Scope of Evaluation

The Colorado Supreme Court (the Court) held in Klabon v. Travelers, as a matter of first impression, that in Colorado, “an employee who is injured in the court of their employment by a third-party tortfeasor and who receives workers’ compensation benefits as a result of that injury can also sue to recover benefits for their employer’s separate uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) carrier.”

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December 10, 2024
Authorization of Housekeeping Services as Medical Benefit

In Dery, the Industrial Claim Appeals Office (the Panel) affirmed the decision of the ALJ to deny housekeeping services as a medical benefit.

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December 10, 2024
Recoupment of Overpayment

In Atencio, the Colorado Court of Appeals (the Court) held that respondents were not required to reopen claimant’s case after filing their final admission of liability to recoup an overpayment.

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