The Spanish philosopher George Santayana once said that, “Chaos is the name we give order which produces confusion in our minds.” With that definition in mind, the July 3, 2019 Washington Supreme Court decision of Daniels v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2019 WL 2909308 (Wash. July 3, 2019), is responsible for about as…
Amazon.com is the world’s largest online retail marketplace. In the subrogation world, it’s common knowledge that, in states that allow strict liability claims against entities in the supply chain, Amazon attempts to preclude any liability by arguing that it is not a “seller” of a product in question. Instead, Amazon has successfully argued that it…
ACW Corporation v. Maxwell, 2019 WL 3024049 (Del. Super. 2019) In what seems like a never-ending assault on an employer’s/carrier’s statutory right of subrogation and reimbursement, a Delaware Superior Court—the state trial court of general jurisdiction which also serves as an intermediate appellate court—has issued what constitutes in this author’s opinion one of the top…
Carriers Are Only as Secure as Their Weakest Link What do you really know about the strengths and weakness of the cybersecurity measures taken by the subrogation counsel and recovery vendors you engage to assist with subrogation recoveries? This past April, Yahoo entered into a $117.5 million settlement in a proposed class action suit in…
In addition to paying for medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or indemnity benefits for lost wages resulting from a compensable injury, workers’ compensation insurance carriers also expend considerable dollars for case management costs, medical bill audit fees, rehabilitation benefits, nurse case worker fees, and the like. They pay significant attorney’s fees on permanency awards…
Frederking v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 929 F.3d 195 (5th Cir. 2019). Carlos Sanchez got drunk and crashed into Richard Frederking while driving his employer’s vehicle insured by Cincinnati Insurance Company. Seriously injured, Frederking sued Sanchez in Texas state court and was awarded $137,025 in compensatory damages and $207,550 in punitive damages. Cincinnati agreed to pay…
On Tuesday, April 9th, the Minnesota legislature passed new hands-free legislation requiring drivers to have their cell phones in hands-free mode while their vehicle is moving. The law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz, goes into effect on August 1, 2019. In so doing, Minnesota joined 17 other states which have passed rigorous new laws governing…
There is an ongoing and heated national debate over the growing practice of law enforcement using red light traffic cameras. More than 500 cities and other municipalities across the country have installed some form of red light camera systems to capture evidence of accidents and red light violations. Hundreds of others are either contemplating their…
On June 14, 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that changes the landscape of personal injury and workers’ compensation third-party cases. In Hilburn v. Enerpipe Ltd., 2019 WL 2479464 (Kan. 2019), the Court declared K.S.A. § 60-19a02 — a 1986 law which originally capped non-economic damages (e.g., pain and suffering and mental…
“Show me the money.” – Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire. This year is the 20th anniversary of the 1996 romantic comedy Jerry Maguire. Its director, Cameron Crowe, just published the entire 5,000-word mission statement he wrote for his crisis-hit sports agent played by Tom Cruise. The memo, entitled The Things We Think and Do Not…