Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines
All the headlines from our Workers' Compensation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Massachusetts Court Allows Workers’ Suit Against Contractor
May 24 2011 // A worker who was injured and the estate of another who died at a Massachusetts construction site can sue the contractor who oversaw the job — despite the fact the contractor’s insurer has already paid them...
Finally, Wash. Legislators Agree on Workers’ Comp Reform
May 23 2011 // Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, House Speaker Frank Chopp, Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt and House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt announced the Legislature finally has come to an...
Montana State Fund Cuts Rates 20%
May 23 2011 // The board of Montana State Fund, the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurer, cut its rates by 20 percent, in a move that some hope will help the business community and encourage more job creation and...
Colo. Court: Insurer Can’t Be Sued By Another Insurer for Failing to Cancel Policy
May 20 2011 // A Colorado Court of Appeal has ruled that an insurer cannot file suit against another insurer for its failure to cancel a policy. According to court documents in First Comp Insurance v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office of...
Wash. Lawmakers Continue to Struggle on Workers’ Comp Deal
May 20 2011 // Leading Washington lawmakers are struggling to find a compromise that would alter the state’s workers’ compensation system and help seal a budget agreement. Negotiators emerged from a 45-minute, closed-door...
West Virginia Seeks Bids on Workers’ Compensation for State Agencies
May 20 2011 // West Virginia is prepared to solicit bids from workers’ compensation insurers to provide coverage for its state employees. The West Virginia insurance department is scheduled to post the request for proposals on its...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Bureau Declines Again to Make Mid-Year Filing
May 19 2011 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s Governing Committee has decided, again, not to make a mid-year rate filing. At its April 6, 2011 meeting, the WCIRB Governing Committee directed...
Why Bragging May Create a Greater Legal Duty of Care
May 19 2011 // It has often been said that every attorney has a little larceny in his heart. In similar fashion, it could be said that every insurance agent has a little puffery in his heart regarding his book of business, background and...
Oklahoma Senate Approves Massive Late-Session Work Comp Bill
May 19 2011 // The Oklahoma Senate has approved a more than 200-page bill that completely overhauls Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation laws. The proposal emerged in the Oklahoma House just three days before lawmakers are...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Premium Written Edges Up to $7.1B
May 18 2011 // California workers’ compensation insurers’ total direct written premium (DWP) rose 3.1 percent to $7.1 billion last year, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) posted...
Illinois Workers’ Comp Commission Adds Rascia, Kimmet
May 17 2011 // The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission announced that Ron Rascia has joined the organization as legal counsel and Mark Kimmet has been named internal auditor. Rascia previously worked for the Illinois Attorney...
Calif. Assembly Bans Workers’ Comp Cuts Due to Race, Sex
May 16 2011 // California’s Assembly approved changes to the state’s safety net for injured workers that would prevent cuts to disability benefits based on race, sex or age. The 44-22 party-line vote on AB1155 came over the...
Business Lobby Gets Mixed Results in Missouri Legislature
May 16 2011 // Missouri Republicans came into this year’s legislative session with historic majorities and a pledge to push a pro-business agenda they said would improve the state’s economy and lower its stubbornly high...
Crump Buys Workers’ Compensation Self-Insurance Firm SFA
May 16 2011 // Wholesaler broker Crump Insurance Services Inc. has acquired Self Funded Alternatives, an insurance intermediary specializing in self-insured workers’ compensation programs. SFA is based in Langhorne, Penn. and has...
People
May 16 2011 // Newport Beach, Calif.-based GCube named Al Caceres senior vice president of underwriting covering all renewables, and Michael Durning executive vice president of client relations and business development. Both will be...
Man Reverses Name in Bid to Defraud Workers’ Compensation Insurer
May 16 2011 // A New York construction company owner faces jail time for a strange workers’ comp fraud scheme: He transposed his name on the application and lied to an insurer about previously cancelled coverage. Ondrej Marga, 43,...
Pennsylvania House OKs Workers’ Comp Changes
May 16 2011 // Pennsylvania House lawmakers have approved new legislation that would allow insurers to write workers’ comp coverage to owners and principals of businesses. Agents in the state had sought the change to correct a...
Report: Workers’ Compensation Line Continues to Deteriorate
May 16 2011 // Workers’ compensation continued to worsen in 2010 as the combined ratio jumped five points to 115 in 2010 from 2009. In its State of the Line workers’ compensation market analysis, NCCI Holdings Inc. described...
Stalemate Over Workers’ Comp Stalls Washington Lawmakers
May 16 2011 // Washington state lawmakers grappling over how to fill a projected budget shortfall of $5 billion in a special legislative session may first have to end a stalemate on a more contentious issue: workers’...
Workers’ Comp TV Show Begins Filming in Florida
May 16 2011 // Hollywood thinks workers’ compensation can be funny. Workers’ Comp, a half-hour TV comedy about crazy employees handling absurd and often-fraudulent insurance claims from injured workers, begins filming pilot...
