News Digest 10/22/2007

By: Rick Waldinger

Quote of the day

"$8,261,760 is what we got back on a $225 million investment."

James McLean, former Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation chief investment officer, testifying at the trial of indicted investment manager Mark Lay

Go to the full story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer

TDI: Illness and Injures on the Rise
The Texas Department of Insurance announces that private industry workplace injuries and illnesses were up statewide in 2006. However, rates in the Lone Star State were below the national average and have been since Texas figures began being collected in 1990. Houston Business Journal
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Former Official Testifies About Collapse of BWC’s Investment
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s former chief investment officer, James McLean, testifies in the fraud trial of investment manager Mark Lay that McLean saw several red flags in the investment, including a monthly financial report showing that Lay’s firm lost $38 million in bureau funds—more than one-third of the money the agency gave Lay to invest.
Go to the full story by Terry Oblander, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Go to the full story by Mark Niquette, Columbus Dispatch

Attorney Threatens Possible Warrant Against South Carolina Governor
A Charleston, S.C., applicant attorney, who last week asked for a grand jury probe of an order by Gov. Mark Sanford requiring workers’ compensation commissioners to use American Medical Association guidelines in calculating awards and report to Sanford each quarter that they have done so, says he might seek a warrant if he gets no satisfaction. David Dusty Rhoades contends Sanford’s executive order amounts to intimidation of court officials. By Tim Smith, Greenville News
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NSW Law Group Backs WCC Appointment Amid Transparency Concerns
A New South Wales legal group backs the state government’s controversial appointment of former Prime Minister Paul Keating’s brother to the high-profile, highly-paid presidency of the state Workers Compensation Commission. Opponents decry the apparent lack of transparency involved in the appointment. Sydney Morning Herald
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Tasmania Amends Workers’ Comp Laws
The Tasmanian Parliament passes amendments to workers’ compensation laws for Tasmanian jockeys who will now be covered; jockeys struck in August because they were only covered under an interim agreement. Additionally, parliament is standing by other controversial changes to the state’s workers’ comp laws which restrict the ability of some injured workers to claim damages. ABC News
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Michigan May Allow Accident Fund to Expand
Accident Fund Insurance Co. could expand beyond workers’ compensation coverage under a four-bill package of insurance-related legislation approved last week by a Michigan House committee. The legislation also gives people buying their own health insurance increased consumer and price protections. Lansing State Journal
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Lords Deny Compensation to Pleural Plaques Victims
In England, House of Lords judges rule that in a test case involving six claimants that pleural plaques—scarring of the lining of the lungs that indicates asbestos exposure—is not a compensable injury. The symptom-less affliction often signals the onset of asbestosis or mesothelioma.
Go to the full story by Frances Gibb, Times Online (U.K.)
Go to the full story by Clare Dyer, Guardian Unlimited (U.K.)

City Wants Projection from Insurer
Arkansas’ Bryant City Council votes to require its workers compensation insurance provider to provide a projection of premiums for 2008, based on salary totals from 2007, at the current rate. Benton Courier
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