Fort Wayne Injury, Employment and Disability Lawyer

As a Fort Wayne, Indiana Employment Law Attorney , I often get contacted by employees or perspective employees seeking legal guidance with respect to a non-compete agreement they signed or one that they are being told to sign.   Generally speaking, Indiana courts disfavor non-compete agreements, however, the courts will uphold them if they drafted properly and aren't too overbroad. The employment law landscape is potentially changing with the United States Federal Trade Commissions' announcement of its Final Non-Compete Clause Rule in April 2024, which bans post-employment non-compete clauses between employers and employees. The ban is expected to become final in approximately August 2024.   Needless to say, my phone has been blowing up with calls from employment law clients in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area asking me questions about the FTC's ban and what impact it has on their non-compete agreements.  I'll attempt to try to address some of the frequently asked ...

Many clients who I represent in personal injury cases where they've been seriously injured in a motor vehicle crash in Indiana due to a drunk driver ask me "what's a dram shop?" They typically ask me that question because I've advised them they have a couple of potential claims: negligence claim against the drunk driver, underinsured or uninsured claim against their own auto insurance company, and/or a dram shop claim against the bar that allegedly overserved the drunk driver. In response to the question, "what's a dram shop?" my responses is usually something along the lines of, it's a bar (or the like) that sells alcohol. A "dram" is an old British unit measuring three fourths of a teaspoon. So, "dram shop" simply referred to a tavern, or the like, that served alcohol to thirsty patrons.  In Indiana bars (and the like) have been subject to criminal liability for various conduct. At the same time, Indiana bars (and the like)...

Overview of Claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: elements, damages, time limits Federal employment regulations derive from laws passed by Congress, as well as federal agencies and executive orders. Generally speaking, federal employment regulations commonly focus on fair treatment of workers.  Most employment laws can be categorized in 4 areas of the regulatory environment.  First, equal employment opportunity laws prohibit specific types of discrimination in the workplace. Examples include: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17 [race, color, gender, religion, national origin];  Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 to 634; Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12112 to 12117; and The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 28 The EEOC oversees compliance with these laws (except claims under the FMLA).  Second, additional laws control compensation ...

Job Site Injury? Are you an independent contractor or an employee? The ten-factor test is key to determining whether you have a personal injury negligence case or a worker's compensation case. In Indiana, if you sustain a job site injury one of the questions that could arise is whether you are an independent contractor or an employee. If you are an employee, then your only option would be pursuing a worker's compensation case. If you are an independent contractor, then you could pursue a personal injury negligence case if you can show that a third party was responsible for your injury, i.e., negligent. Courts in Indiana use a ten-factor test to distinguish employees from independent contractors. This ten-factor test was addressed in the case  Moberly v. Day , 757 N.E.2d 1007 (Ind. 2001), where the Indiana Supreme Court set forth a ten-factor analysis to distinguish employees from independent contractors.  The factors are: (a) the extent of control which, by the agreement, the ...

  Indiana Case Law Update: An independent contractor's personal injury negligence case was not barred by the exclusivity provision of the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Act. Recently the Indiana Court of Appeals issued a decision in the case  Palmer v. Ake, Fas Pak, Inc., and Bernacchi,  2021 Ind. App. LEXIS 400 * | 2021 WL 6058471 (Ind. Ct. App. 2021) that involved a  worker's action to recover damages for injuries he sustained when he was working on the roof of a barn and part of the barn collapsed.  Defendants filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Trial Rule 12(B)(1) arguing that injured worker was an employee and that his exclusive remedy fell under the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Act. The trial court agreed with the Defendants and dismissed the case. The injured worker appealed the trial court's decision. The Indiana Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred by dismissing the injured worker's negligence lawsu...

Who are Vocational Experts? Generally, a Vocational Expert ("VE") is an expert witness who knows about job availability in the current labor market as well as the skills that are needed to perform specific jobs. In the Social Security Administration ("SSA") disability setting, VEs are vocational professionals who provide impartial expert opinion evidence about a claimant’s vocational abilities that an ALJ considers when making a decision about disability. As many Social Security Disability attorneys know, the bulk of VEs provide testimony in SSA disability hearings.  In this context, the United States Supreme Court noted that VEs are: “[P]professionals under contract with the Social Security Administration to provide impartial testimony in agency proceedings. They must have expertise and current knowledge of working conditions and physical demands of various jobs; knowledge of the existence and numbers of those jobs in the national economy; and involvement in or kn...

  When an employee sustains an injury on the job, there are certain benefits that the injured worker would be entitled to under the Indiana Worker's Compensation Act. This article addresses the four different types of benefits available to an injured worker in Indiana. First, medical treatment will be provided to the injured worker at no cost to the injured worker. This means all medical expenses are paid by the employer and/or its worker's compensation insurance company.  A few points about this benefit: The injured worker is usually provided a prescription card so they can get any prescriptions from a pharmacy of their choosing.  It should be noted that the employer/worker's compensation insurance company has the right to direct the injured worker's medical treatment so this means the injured worker does not get to pick the doctors. Typically, employers/worker's compensation insurance companies have preferred doctors they like to use.  The employer/worker's co...

In 1978, the Indiana legislature enacted the Indiana Product's Liability Act ("IPLA").  As some legal scholars have noted, the IPLA is  “marked by ambiguities, opaque definitions, incompleteness, inconsistencies, inequities, provisions subject to likely constitutional challenge, a general violation of the state constitution’s one subject rule, and general evidence of very hasty draftmanship.”.  John F. Vargo, Product Liability, 12 Ind. L. Rev. 227, 255 (1979). This article addresses one section of the IPLA, namely, the IPLA's  statute of repose ("SOR") now codified at I.C. § 34-20-3-1(b) which provides, in relevant part, that: [A] product liability action must be commenced: (1) within two (2) years after the cause of action accrues;  or (2) within ten (10) years after the delivery of the product to the initial user or consumer. However, if the cause of action accrues at least eight (8) years but less than ten (10) years after that...

In the United State Supreme Court case, FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS v. DAVIS , the Court held that  Title VII’s administrative-exhaustion requirement is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to a lawsuit, but is instead a waivable claim-processing rule.   Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – which forbids employers from discriminating against employees on the base of race, color, religion, sex and national origin – requires that an employee must first file a charge with the EEOC before going to court. Fort Wayne Attorney Nathaniel Hubley Monday’s decision stems from the case of Lois Davis, who says she was fired from her information-technology position with Fort Bend County, Texas, for attending a church event on a Sunday when she was scheduled to work. She also argued her supervisor retaliated against her for reporting sexual harassment by a co-worker, who resigned after an investigation. Davis first filed a charge of harassment and retaliation with the EEOC...

As a Fort Wayne Work Injury Attorney who handles Indiana Worker's Compensation cases, there are several things that I explain to my clients about worker's compensation permanent total disability benefits. As an Indiana Worker's Compensation Lawyer , the important things to know about worker's compensation permanent total disability benefits below:  As way of a background, it is important to know that the Indiana Worker's Compensation Act provides several benefits to employees, including, but not limited to, permanent total disability ("PTD") benefits. These benefits are paid when it is established that the employee will never again be able to work in reasonable employment. Specifically,  PTD benefits are awarded pursuant to Ind. Code § 22-3-3-8 when it is established that the employee will never again be able to work in a reasonable employment. Bowles v. Griffin Industries , 798 N.E.2d 908, 910 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003), on subsequent appeal, Bowles ...