Injured coal worker comp claim belongs in West Virginia: Appeals court

A Kentucky appellate court has ruled that a workers compensation claim filed by an injured coal worker must play out in West Virginia because the work injury took place in the neighboring state even though the employer is based in Kentucky.

The Court of Appeals of Kentucky on Friday reversed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that affirmed a comp law judge’s ruling that had granted extraterritorial jurisdiction to a workers comp claim filed by Lewis Hicks.

Mr. Hicks, who worked for Southeastern Land LLC, which owns several coal mines in Kentucky and one in West Virginia, was injured in January 2019 after being caught in a conveyor belt at a West Virginia coal mine.

He filed a comp claim in Kentucky, and a judge found that while the injury occurred in West Virginia, Kentucky had extraterritorial jurisdiction over the matter given that the company was based in Kentucky. The comp board affirmed the decision.

The company appealed, arguing the case belonged in West Virginia because that state was the site of the injury.

The appellate court ultimately agreed with the employer and Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance that West Virginia law should govern the case, since Mr. Hicks, while he made occasional trips to the company’s headquarters or other mines in Kentucky, was injured at a mine in West Virginia, which is where he spent a majority of his time working.  

The appeals court remanded the case back to the original comp law judge handling the claim.