If you have been following the saga of former Miami Dolphin player Kendall M. Newson, you know that he was injured in a preseason game against the Steelers at Heinz Field and was trying to obtain workers compensation benefits under Pennsylvania law, rather than Florida law.
Florida law favors the NFL, his employer. Pennsylvania law is more even-handed. So, Newson filed his workers compensation claim in Pennsylvania.
You may remember that I spoke about this subject in a prior blog. Our firm won the case which paved the way for all individuals who are injured in Pennsylvania to get compensated under Pennsylvania law, no matter where they live.
So, the NFL tried to side step Pennsylvania law by going into Federal Court and asking the judge to send Mr. Newsom back to Florida to get his benefits. Well, Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan declined the NFL request that she intervene in the Pennsylvania workers' compensation claim.
If Mr. Newson is granted workers' compensation benefits under Pennsylvania law, he would be entitled to $716 a week, (the maximum benefit for the year in which he was injured, even though his salary was much higher), plus coverage for medical expenses from the injury.
The NFL has opposed around 100 players' workers' compensation claims, but Mr. Newson's is believed to be the only one it has taken to federal court.
Judge Lenihan, of the Western District of Pennsylvania, found that there is no legal basis for her to intervene in either an ongoing arbitration in Mr. Newson's case, or in the workers' compensation claim that is moving through a state process.
The morale of the story. If you come to Pennsylvania, don't mess with the Steelers and don't mess with the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act!
