Quote of the day
"I would suggest to you that Ted Strickland probably has more ties to the scandals at BWC than Tom Noe."
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell, about his Democratic opponent; former Republican fundraiser Noe is the central figure in the Bureau of Workers' Compensation's rare coin fund investment scandal
Judge Orders San Diego Contractor to Pay $475,000 to State Fund
A San Diego Superior Court judge orders the owner of a San Diego-area construction company to pay more than $475,000 in restitution to the State
Compensation Insurance Fund as part of his sentence for workers’ comp insurance premium fraud. Workers’ Comp Executive
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Riverside County Couple Gets Prison for Payroll Scheme
A Riverside judge sentences a Norco couple who ran a tree-trimming firm and their business partner to lengthy prison terms after pleading guilty in December to cheating the state out of $4 million in insurance premiums via a sophisticated payroll fraud scheme. The prosecutor says the suspects lack any remorse. By John Welsh, Press-Enterprise [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
Ohio Republican Candidate Says Foe Worse Than Noe
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell contends that his Democratic opponent, Ted Strickland, has more ties to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation scandals than indicted coin dealer and former Republican fundraiser Tom Noe. A Strickland spokesman replies that his candidate has called for a bipartisan legislative panel to investigate the BWC and that Blackwell has taken campaign contributions from Noe. Columbus Dispatch
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Delaware Senate Won’t Touch Workers’ Comp in Special Session
Delaware state senators will be back for their traditional one-day fall special session next week to take up three judicial reappointments, but they will not deal with Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s plan to revamp the workers’ compensation system. By Patrick Jackson, Wilmington News Journal
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Washington A.G.’s Office to Assist L&I in Fraud Detection
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries says the state attorney general’s office is assigning a full-time assistant attorney general to assist the agency by developing workers’ compensation fraud cases for criminal prosecution. Tacoma Daily Index
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Washington L&I Seeks Volunteers for Reporting Program
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries wants about 500 employers to participate in a new program for reporting workplace injury and occupational disease claims. Unlike most states, workers’ comp claims in Washington are filed through injured workers’ physicians, rather than employers. West Seattle Herald
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Keystone State Ambulance Service Solicits Aid for Workers’ Comp Costs
In Pennsylvania, Southern Clarion County Ambulance Service is asking the municipalities it serves to assist with its workers compensation insurance costs. Since becoming a paid service in 2004, the ambulance company has had to secure its own workers’ comp policy. By Ashley E. Angle, Clarion News
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Suit Arising from Doomed Wellstone Flight Blocked
The Minnesota Court of Appeals upholds a decision under the state’s workers’ compensation law to block a lawsuit by the heirs of the copilot on the 2002 flight that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone and seven others. KEYC (Mankato, Minn.)
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