Friday, September 20, 2024

2:30pm – 3:00pm
REGISTRATION / LOG ON 

3:00pm - 3:50pm
THIRD DEPARTMENT and NYSCEF

3:50pm - 4:00pm
BREAK

4:00pm - 4:50pm
THE NEW YORK STATE WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD
Clarissa Rodriguez, Esq., Chair & Commissioner, New York State Workers' Compensation Board
Steven Scotti, Esq., Executive Director, New York State Workers' Compensation Board

5:00pm
WCA Reception

Saturday, September 21, 2024

8:00am - 9:00am
BREAKFAST AND REGISTRATION / LOG ON

9:00am - 9:50am
ANDERSON v. CITY OF YONKERS: A SWEEPING CHANGE IN THE LAW OF MENTAL STRESS ACCIDENTS
Geoffrey Schotter, Esq.
In Matter of Anderson v. City of Yonkers, No. 535958, 2024 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1763 (App. Div., 3d Dept. Mar. 28, 2024), the Third Department held that there is no higher burden on a claimant to establish an accident arising out of and in the course of employment in a pure mental stress case than there is in a physical accident case and that when determining whether a compensable accident exists in a pure mental stress case, the Board must consider the claimant's particular vulnerability and not just the average vulnerability of similarly situated coworkers. On the basis of this analysis, the Court held that claims by public facing workers for mental stress arising from the experience of working in COVID-19 prevalent workplaces are compensable even where the claimant never contracted COVID-19 itself, overturning the Board's policy to the contrary. This presentation would go into the history of workers' compensation accident jurisprudence, the role of that jurisprudence in the Board's fashioning of its COVID-19 prevalence doctrine, the history of mental stress case law after Wolfe v. Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Co., 36 N.Y.2d 505 (1975), the Court of Appeals decision finding for the first time that pure mental stress cases are compensable, and the changed landscape of the law regarding COVID-19 claims, mental stress claims, and even the meaning of an accident itself in the wake of the Anderson decision, and how this will affect our practices going forward.

Geoffrey Schotter was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from Cornell University with a BA in 2005. Prior to law school, He attended a joint JD/MA program in law and legal history at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, graduating in 2011. While at Case Western, He was an editor of the Case Western Reserve Law Review and also helped found the Case Western Reserve Journal of Law, Technology and the Internet (JOLTI).  After graduating from Case Western, Geoffrey returned home to New York City and began a fellowship at the national office of the ACLU researching the growing crisis of America's aging prisoner population, and worked briefly in the Manhattan office of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein P.C. in their labor and employment practice.  In late 2012, at age 30, Geoffrey opened his solo workers’ compensation law practice, which grew steadily over the next 8 years. In 2020, he formed Schotter Millican with other attorneys with whom he had been working. Schotter Millican now represents more than 2,000 clients through the state of New York in workers’ compensation claims.

9:50am - 10:00am
BREAK

10:00am-10:50am
BUSINESS MEETING (Members Only)

10:50am-11:00am
BREAK

11:00am - 11:50am
TO BE DETERMINED

11:50am
CLOSING

Attendee Information 

• This event is being planned as a hybrid event, both in-person in Saratoga and virtually on Zoom.
• Registration is the same whether you attend in-person or virtually.
• Agenda subject to change.
• The content of this program is appropriate for experienced attorneys, as well as newly admitted attorneys.
• This continuing legal education program has been approved in accordance with the requirements of the Continuing Legal Education Board.
• Financial aid is available for this program.  Please click here for more information.
• A pre-event email will be sent the week prior to the event and will include all log in and event information. 
• If you have registered to attend, but find yourself unable to attend, you must cancel your registration by no later than noon on Friday, September 13th, or IWBA will be charged and, therefore, must then pass the cost along to you. If you cannot attend, please contact the office to have a substitute individual on your behalf.

Registration Information

Conference Registration Deadline: Friday, September 13, 2024 by noon

Member Registration Fee: $325
One Day Member Registration: $225

Non-Member Registration Fee: $525
One Day Non-Member Registration Fee: $425

All registrants are encouraged to register for the Friday Evening WCA Reception with a donation of $100.
Your donations protect the Injured Workers of New York and those that represent them. 

WCA RECEPTION REGISTRATION 

THANK YOU TO OUR 2024 FALL SPONSORS!

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