Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) demanded that Chrysler recall 2.7 million 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002-2007 Jeep Libertys after a probe into rear-end crashes and fires that caused at least 44 deaths and many more injuries involving the vehicles. Chrysler manufactures the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Liberty SUVs. According to…
The Mississippi Supreme Court recently dropped a bombshell and announced that in order to be reimbursed for its statutory workers’ compensation lien, a workers’ compensation carrier or employer must intervene into the third-party action. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Shoemake, 2013 WL 1831793 (Miss., May 2, 2013). If it does not do so, its subrogation…
A 2012 Texas Federal Court decision has brought into focus the ability of an ERISA Plan to file a state subrogation tort action. While dealing specifically with a Contribution of Benefits issue, the Federal Court decision in Central States v. Health Special Risk, Inc., 2013 WL 2656159 (N.D. Tex. 2013) has given ammunition to anti-subrogation…
The Delaware Supreme Court proved me right recently. On March 19, 2013, the Court examined sloppy amendments the Delaware Legislature made to § 2363 back in 1993 and formally announced for the first time that a workers’ compensation carrier is not subrogated to uninsured/underinsured motorists (UM/UIM) benefits, regardless of whether or not the UM/UIM policy…
We have long known that Democrats, financially fueled by the trial lawyers’ lobby, are no fans of subrogation. Surprisingly, even Republicans continue to battle the subrogation bogeyman, an indication that subrogation education and lobbying of our legislators should be a priority in our industry. The most recent example is in Texas, where Republican legislators sponsored,…
On April 17, 2013, a fire of as-of-yet-undetermined origin at the West Fertilizer Company in West, Texas ignited as much as 270 tons of ammonium nitrate being stored at the facility. The resulting blast left a 90-foot-wide crater and caused an estimated $125 million in damage. The blast killed 15 people, injured at least 200,…
As a means of raising revenue, particularly during times of economic crisis, a handful of states employ, and many states repeatedly revisit, the dubious and counter-productive scheme of imposing a tax on professional services, whether as a sales tax (including lifting an exemption in many states’ sales tax code for professional services), use tax, excise…
A rapidly changing area of insurance defense involves products causing injury or damage to people and property. Many states are moving towards adopting the standards set by the Restatement (Third) of Torts, and Wisconsin is no different. On February 1, 2011, the Wisconsin Omnibus Tort Reform Act went into effect, severely affecting and changing products…
In Bethke v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co., 2013 WI 16 (2013), the plaintiffs sought underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage under a policy issued by Auto-Owners (“Owners”) as a result of an automobile accident caused by an allegedly negligent driver of a rental vehicle owned by Avis Rent-A-Car (“Avis”). Avis, as a car rental company, was statutorily required…
Court Recognizes Importance of Subrogation In Reducing Premiums: Calingo v. Meridian Resource Co., LLC, 2013 WL 1250448 (S.D.N.Y. 2013). The U.S. government sponsors more than 350 different health Plans covering more than nine million federal employees, retirees, and beneficiaries through the Federal Employees Health Benefit Act of 1959 (FEHBA). 5 U.S.C. §§ 8901-8914. These health Plans…