Tennessee Supreme Court to decide if coal ash cleanup company is shielded from lawsuit
For nearly a decade, hundreds of families have pinned their hopes for accountability in the nation’s largest industrial disaster, the 2008 coal ash spill at the Kingston coal-fired power plant in East Tennessee, on a federal lawsuit. Records show more than 50 employees working on the cleanup have died, and hundreds more have been made ill. The Tennessee Supreme Court is addressing whether the coal ash employees, and ultimately other such employees across the US, have legal recourse to sue for damages they say were caused by their exposure to coal ash. Knoxville News Sentinel
Violent crime victims in New York struggle to access compensation funds
A state fund designed to financially support victims of violent crimes in New York has distributed money to only a small fraction of those eligible, according to a new report. The Office of Victim Services covers costs for victims who have no other resources or have exhausted all of their other options, such as health insurance, workers’ compensation or car insurance. The compensation fund is intended to fully reimburse victims for services like mental and physical health care, but also pays a set amount for other costs, like funeral arrangements. The City
New York: Mayors push back on county’s workers’ comp cost shift
The mayors of Chautauqua County, New York’s two cities aren’t happy with the county’s change in how workers’ compensation costs are calculated. Local officials last week approved changing the way the county’s self-insurance plan for workers’ compensation is billed. Forty percent of the plan’s costs used to be based on property valuation, which meant towns with fewer employees but bigger property bases paid more into the system. Starting in January, workers’ compensation costs will be based on the wages of employees instead. Observer (Dunkirk, N.Y.)