Contract~Noncompete~Trade Secret~Wrongful Termination
Jensen Tech Services v. Labor Commission (Utah Ct. App., February 3, 2022) (setting aside Commission decision identifying respondent Herrera as Jensen’s employee for workers’ compensation purposes: the Commission failed to properly and completely apply the legal standards that govern employee-vs.-independent-contractor determinations; its right-to-control analysis, moreover, was faulty)
Workers Compensation ~ Occupational Safety and Disease
Kay v. Barnes Bullets (Utah, January 31, 2022) (Amended Opinion) (vacating district-court denial of Barnes’s motion for summary judgment and instead remanding for a determination as to whether Kay’s intentional lead poisoning: Kay brought his lead-poisoning claim under the Workers’ Compensation Act, but Utah law has recognized lead poisoning as an occupational disease (properly brought under the Occupational Disease Act). This raises a significant question for the district court to determine on remand: is it an occupational disease? and, if so, should the intentional-injury exception be extended to cover Kay’s claim?)
*Cases marked with an asterisk are not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estop
