For the time being, trial lawyers are celebrating the recent 2nd Circuit decision in Wurtz v. Rawlings Co., LLC, 2014 WL 3746801 (2nd Cir. 2014), which on July 31st, held that a class action suit seeking to enjoin three defendants from seeking reimbursement of benefits paid under fully-insured health plans based on New York’s anti-subrogation…
Property insurers along all lines could simplify their business practices and lower their overhead considerably by simply paying any and all property damages, claims, expenses, and consequential damages alleged to have been incurred by and in the amounts claimed by their insureds. Obviously, such a practice would be a shortcut to insolvency and would lead…
A recent unpublished and quite puzzling decision from the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, threw decades of established New Jersey subrogation law into question when it announced that a workers’ compensation carrier has no subrogation/reimbursement rights on the medical portion of a third-party claim against an uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) carrier. The Court in Dever…
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…
Gary Wickert’s was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune for an article published on May 14, 2014 entitled “Insurers Sue Chicago-Area Towns In A Bid To Get Flood Money Saying Municipalities Should’ve Done More Against Flooding”. Read the full article HERE.
Gary Wickert’s article entitled “Gathering Pebbles: Subrogation’s Burden of Proof” was published in the American Educational Institute’s (AEI) Spring 2014 Claims Law Update, which can be viewed HERE. Gary will be speaking at this year’s SCLA Claims Education Conference in San Antonio, presenting on Recognizing Subrogation and Third-Party Liability. This conference is presented by AEI…
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…