Latest Workers' Compensation Headlines

Eastern Insurance, Educators Mutual Complete Stock Deals; Begin Trading

Jun 20 2006 // Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has completed its common stock offering, the conversion of Educators Mutual Life Insurance Company, also of Lancaster, to a stock insurance company and the...

Okla. Gov. Names Harkey as Workers’ Comp Judge

Jun 20 2006 // Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry appointed Michael J. Harkey as a Workers’ Compensation Court judge for a term ending July 1, 2008. He succeeds Richard G. Mason, who resigned in January. The governor praised...

Supreme Court: Workers Comp Premiums Not Priority in Bankruptcy

Jun 20 2006 // A workers compensation insurer does not have a claim against a bankrupt business for unpaid premiums under bankruptcy law, according to the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision that insurers are warning could disrupt the...

California commissioner recommends 16.4 percent workers’ comp rate cut

Jun 19 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has recommended a 16.4 percent decrease in the workers’ compensation pure premium rate. The decrease would be applicable to new and renewal policies as of the first...

More N.Y. self-insured comp trusts close

Jun 19 2006 // Two more self-insured workers’ compensation groups in New York will close over the next several months, bringing the year’s tally to five, as officials continue to enforce stricter financial standards. The...

Jun 19 2006 // People PMA Insurance Group has promoted Elaine Manchon to assistant vice president for commercial markets underwriting. Manchon, who will join PMA’s corporate headquarters staff in the company’s Blue Bell,...

News Currents

Jun 19 2006 // California commissioner recommends 16.4 percent workers’ comp rate cut California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has recommended a 16.4 percent decrease in the workers’ compensation pure premium rate....

Ohio Workers’ Fund Scandal Expands to State’s Pension Funds, Treasury

Jun 16 2006 // A sweeping investigation into bribery for investment contracts at the state insurance fund for injured workers has expanded to now include Ohio’s pension funds and the state treasury. The list of the top ten to 15...

Employers Insurance Group’s Outlook Positive

Jun 16 2006 // Reno, Nev.-based Employers Insurance Group’s financial strength rating has been raised from “stable” to “positive,” and A- (Excellent) forthe group of workers’ compensation insurance...

Pride Industries Employee Arrested for Workers’ Compensation Fraud

Jun 16 2006 // A Sacramento man has turned himself in for insurance fraud. Darren Stanton was a long term employee of PRIDE Industries, an employer of people with disabilities, according to LWP Claims Solutions Inc. On March 28, 2005,...

Division of Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board Adopts New Heat Stress Regulations

Jun 16 2006 // The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has adopted a permanent heat stress regulation, which protects all California employees working outdoors. The measure now goes to the Office of Administrative...

Court Orders Ohio Governor to Provide Insurance Fund Records

Jun 14 2006 // The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered Gov. Bob Taft to hand over documents related to the state’s troubled insurance fund for injured workers so it could decide whether to make them public. The ruling was a partial...

W.Va. Workers’ Comp Loss Costs Decrease 10 Percent

Jun 13 2006 // West Virginia Insurance Commissioner, Jane L. Cline has announced that the Offices of the Insurance Commissioner have approved an overall 10 percent decrease in loss costs for workers’ compensation rates. Loss cost...

Beecher Carlson Expands Risk Services/Captive Operations in Denver

Jun 13 2006 // Beecher Carlson, an insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm, has expanded its risk services/captive operations with the appointment of Richard (Dick) Huntington as senior vice President and Carol Riggs as...

Beacon Mutual Seeks 16% Workers Comp Price Drop in R.I.

Jun 12 2006 // Beacon Mutual insurance Co., which writes workers compensation for about 90 percent of the businesses in Rhode Island, has filed for a 16 percent reduction in rates to cover its workers compensation loss costs. A company...

Pa. Labor Department to Host Workers’ Comp Conference June 12

Jun 9 2006 // Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Stephen M. Schmerin will kick-off the 5th Annual Workers’ Compensation Conference at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, June 12, in the Chocolate Ballroom, Hershey Lodge...

Wash. Trooper Accused of Taking Workers Comp While Off Fishing

Jun 9 2006 // A Washington state trooper accused of falsely claiming 20-thousand dollars worth of workers compensation benefits has been charged in Olympia with theft and perjury. Thirty-five-year-old James A. Long of Chinook, who is...

Former Ohio Worker’s Comp Fund Official Expected to Enter Guilty Plea

Jun 8 2006 // Prosecutors say Terrence Gasper, the former chief financial officer at Ohio’s $15 billion insurance fund for injured workers, exchanged investment opportunities for money, his son’s college tuition and stays at...

Attorneys: Summary Judgment in Texas Work Comp Case Sets Precedent

Jun 8 2006 // Attorneys Anthony Cox and Greta Matzen, with the Dallas-based law firm of Hermes Sargent Bates LLP, announced they obtained a summary judgment of damages stating that Section 41.0105 of the Texas Civil Practice and...

Mlynarczyk Named to Conn. Workers Comp Commission Post

Jun 7 2006 // Governor M. Jodi Rell has named New Britain attorney Peter C. Mlynarczyk to the Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission. Mlynarczyk currently serves as corporation counsel for the City of New Britain, overseeing...