Now that the legal challenges to the $100 lien activation fee are out of the way, the Department of Industrial Relations is once again charging lien holders to pursue their legacy liens. The fee, authorized by the SB 863 workers’ compensation reforms, applies to tens of thousands of liens in the system filed before Jan. …
The State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) says a new get tough strategy of taking on workers’ comp lien claimants is slashing what the carrier of last resort says it is having to pay out on disputed claims. So far in 2015 SCIF says payouts on lien settlements are down by more than half. “In …
Department of Industrial Relations officials expects to resume collecting the $100 lien activation fee on older workers’ comp liens by early next month. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed the Department of Industrial Relations and the Brown Administration a major victory in the battle over SB 863’s lien provisions. It was a long and …
The fate of California’s attempt to levy a $100 activation on tens of thousands of workers’ comp liens and dismiss those that don’t pay up is now in the hands of the federal justices at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Justices have now heard arguments from both sides. But the constitutional challenge to a …
Lien holders, physicians with a medical-legal billing disputes and interpreters with petitions for costs soon will either have to show up at all non-expedited hearings and mandatory settlement conferences for the case or be otherwise available to settle their claims. These are the new rules adopted by the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. Claims of $25,000 …
In order to solve what it perceived as a problem – millions of liens in the system backed up and unable to settle – the Department of Industrial Relations had the legislature act to charge a fee for new filings and to keep old ones active. Whether or not this will stand is under review …
Workers’ comp reform and the fight for and against it remained a dominant headline throughout 2013 but it was far from the only dynamic at play in the California workers’ comp system. Political intrigue gripped the State Capitol amid leaked allegations of bribery, political corruption and a pay to play scheme with direct ties to …
Lien holders in Southern California are taking a two-pronged approach to challenge not only the Division of Industrial Relations $100 lien activation fee that is currently on hold per a federal court order, but also the $150 filing fee imposed on all new liens. The challenges being waged in both federal and state courts go …