Wildfires are a natural part of California’s landscape, but they have become larger and more damaging recently. A recent study by the University of Washington and UC-Santa Barbara looked at the long-term future of wildfires and reveals that a buildup of fuels in conjunction with severe drought conditions suggest that we should brace ourselves for…
Successful subrogation against power companies is not a given. In determining whether the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) may be sued for its clear negligence in failing to properly winterize power production facilities and the power grid that it runs in Texas, the issue is currently in limbo. The Texas Supreme Court is currently…
A favorite quote of mine from the 2001 Jerry Zucker movie “Rat Race” goes like this: “Good things take time; but great things happen all at once.” Most of the time, laws change at a glacial pace. Where there is a provision of law that most people believe should be changed, it usually takes years…
Moreci v. Scaffold Solutions, Inc., 2021 WL 4397397 (Calif. App. 2021). A valiant effort by a California workers’ compensation carrier to make it more difficult for an employee to argue employer fault and settle around a workers’ compensation carrier’s statutory lien and right of reimbursement fell on deaf ears recently, when the California Court of…
Secura Sup. Ins. Co. v. Est. of Huck, 2021 WL 4449249 (Wis. App. 2021). A new Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision has ruled that an uninsured/underinsured (UM/UIM) automobile insurance carrier cannot reduce UM/UIM payments to its insured by the amount of workers’ compensation benefits the insured received, if the insured had to reimburse those benefits…
Recovery of Case Management Costs, Medical Bill Audit fees, Rehabilitation Benefits, Utilization Review Costs, IME’s, Nurse Case Worker Fees, Attorneys’ Fees, and Other “Allocated” Loss Adjustment Expenses. It’s the question every claims professional and trial attorney claims to know but few fully understand. In addition to paying for medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or…
Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. (“MWL”) is pleased to welcome Griffin S. Gross as a litigation associate in our Hartford, Wisconsin office. Griffin will be handling workers’ compensation, property, and automobile insurance subrogation cases. Griffin graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he received a B.S. in Accounting and received his law degree from…
Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. (“MWL”) is pleased to welcome Constance A. Smith as a litigation associate in our Santa Ana, California branch office. Constance’s practice will focus on all lines of subrogation with an emphasis on medical malpractice. Constance boasts an undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she received…
In 1992, the National Fire Protection Association created a set of investigative guidelines that was published as “NFPA 921: Guide for Fire and Explosive Investigations.” The guide is widely used by both public and private fire investigators. It describes in detail the scientific method and how to specifically apply the method in the context of…
Moranz v. Harbor Mall, LLC, 477 P.3d 179 (Haw. App. 2020), cert. granted, SCWC-17-0000006, 2021 WL 1924134 (Haw. May 13, 2021). We are at the precipice of a potential upheaval in workers’ compensation recovery rights in the Aloha State. The Hawaii Supreme Court is about to decide whether equitable considerations and defenses to subrogation—such as…