The Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) tried to recover the workers’ comp benefits it paid to an employee from the settlement the employee reached with a liable third party. A trial court granted the medical group’s motion for reimbursement, but an appeals court held that SCPMG acted too late to recover a portion of …
Here is a case brokers should be aware of and understand: A farm management company is fighting a $19,000 additional premium bill from its workers’ comp carrier. The carrier says …
The surge in cumulative trauma claims in California’s workers’ comp system is having a ripple effect across the claims environment. Members of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s actuarial committee heard earlier this month that the rise in CT claims is also driving up the number of liens and use of compromise and release (C&Rs) …
A mental health treatment center is disputing a $104,000 audit bill from its workers’ comp carrier for premiums related to payments made to certain individuals who received 1099 statements. The employer is asking the California Department of Insurance’s Administrative Hearing Bureau to referee the dispute after an appeal to the carrier failed to change the …
A startup company focused on converting plastic waste into construction materials withdrew the appeal it filed with the California Department of Insurance’s Administrative Hearing Bureau after a disputed classification assignment was changed. The dispute between ByFusion Global and CompWest Insurance Company prompted the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to conduct a classification inspection that helped …
The owner and sole employee of a company cannot proceed with a lawsuit against the company’s workers’ comp carrier for breach of contract until the owner’s underlying workers’ comp claim is resolved. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s stay in the case alleging the carrier fraudulently denied temporary disability payments. Calvin …
California employers continue to experience higher costs than most other states. The cost of workers’ comp is no exception, even though employers in California saw a 10.9% decrease in workers’ comp costs over a recent five-year period, according to a just-released analysis by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). Employers nationwide, however, saw an …
A proposal to help insurance carriers fight workers’ comp fraud will not be moving forward this session. The measure would have given carriers access to employers’ payroll records to crack down on premium fraud, but the Assembly Appropriations Committee did not advance the bill because of cost concerns. The bill would have created a cumbersome …