On July 23, 2014, the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided Data Key Partners v. Permira Advisers LLC, 2014 WI 86. Remarkably, the decision appears to adopt the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decision in Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007). According to the minority opinion, the Court adopted Twombly without it having been briefed…
For nearly twenty years, the plaintiffs’ bar and negligent third parties have been trying to use the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) as a weapon against legitimate subrogation claims. While the fight continues, two recent federal district court decisions came down in favor of subrogation yet again. Both cases center on a third party’s…
Texas has historically been a very favorable venue for workers’ compensation subrogation. It has not been without its gray areas. In death cases, when an employee dies and either he and/or his surviving family members have received workers’ compensation benefits, a careful analysis is required in order to determine the subrogation and future credit rights…
Trial lawyers are already calling it a “travesty of justice” and I gave two media interviews about its significance within two hours of the decision being published. The truth is, however, the new Wisconsin Supreme Court case which is being decried as allowing a workers’ compensation carrier to “force” an employee to accept a settlement…
Earlier this year, the Arizona Court of Appeals essentially rewrote § 23-1023, Arizona’s workers’ compensation subrogation statute. Prior to its amendment in 2007, this statute provided that the injured employee had only one year after a cause of action accrued to pursue a third-party action. A.R.S. § 23-1023(B). If the employee did not pursue the…
A recent decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has dramatically expanded a longshore harbor workers’ compensation carrier’s rights of subrogation in Jones Act cases. The Chenevert v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 2014 WL 902873 (5th Cir. 2014) decision declares for the first time that a longshore harbor workers’ compensation carrier has a right of…
My oldest son was recently in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor with Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES). He is one of tens of thousands of employees of civilian contractors working overseas and subject to workers’ compensation under the Defense Base Act (DBA) and War Hazards Compensation Act (WHCA). The U.S. has military personnel…
Health insurers and health insurance professionals can close their eyes and hope that the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) becomes a distant memory in their rear-view mirror, but the truth is that for now, it is the law, and it may be here to stay. While we are told that the number…
Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp. v. Shaffer, 2013 WL 5636299 (Ohio App. 2013) Trial lawyers have a stranglehold on Ohio subrogation. Workers’ compensation subrogation in Ohio has gone through major transformations since it was ruled unconstitutional in 2001. Although subrogation is currently a statutory right of carriers and self-insured employers, it has been a bumpy…
In one of last year’s most questionable court decisions, a sharply-divided Illinois Court of Appeals has held that the Common Fund Doctrine applies to Med Pay set-offs. In Scheppler v. Pyle, 2013 IL App. (3d) 110380-U (Ill. App. 2013), Peggy Scheppler (Country Mutual) was involved in an accident with Tom Pyle (American Family). Country Mutual…