A tragic, but all-too-frequent claims handling mistake in Oregon is the inadvertent waiver of a large workers’ compensation lien when the underlying claim is settled through a Claim Disposition Agreement (CDA). On an accepted workers’ compensation claim, the employee and carrier can enter into a CDA through which, in return for an agreed amount paid…
A new ruling from the Florida Supreme Court may shed some light into ability of a workers’ compensation carrier to seek reimbursement from an employee’s legal malpractice claim against his or her personal injury attorney. In a case that had been pending for almost two years, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that a professional…
Understanding the nuances of the somewhat complicated and confusing subrogation law in California is instrumental in formulating the right decision when it comes to protecting your workers’ compensation subrogation interests. California workers’ compensation subrogation requires both an in-depth knowledge of the law and the ability to play poker. California is perhaps the most confusing state…
Employers Fight Losing Battle Against Tortfeasors Who Cause Premium Increases Workers’ compensation insurance premiums seem to know only one direction – up. On average, premiums rise approximately 5% annually; more, if an insured has experienced significant losses. For many corporate risk managers and claims professionals, the concepts of underwriting and experience ratings remain a clouded…
Katherine A. Sandoval will be presenting a MWL webinar on Advanced Concepts of California Workers’ Compensation Subrogation on May 11, 2021 from 11:00 to 12:00 p.m. (CDT). There are very few areas in which the law of each individual state vary more and are applied as differently, than in the area of workers’ compensation subrogation. While…
Health insurance subrogation involves much more than simply making demands on negligent tortfeasors. Coordination of Benefits (COB) is a subset of health Plan subrogation. It primarily concerns itself with situations where two different health Plans, or a health Plan and a no-fault automobile carrier, cover the same person or loss. Obviously, with two sources of…
Katherine A. Sandoval will be presenting a MWL webinar on Introduction to California Workers’ Compensation Subrogation on April 14, 2021 from 11:00 to 12:30 p.m. (CDT). There are very few areas in which the law of each individual state vary more and are applied as differently, than in the area of workers’ compensation subrogation. While…
Workers’ compensation subrogation in Alabama isn’t as clear as it might otherwise appear—especially when an employee dies. Alabama’s Survival Statute, § 6-5-462, did not change the common law rule that a cause of action in tort does not survive in favor of the personal representative of the deceased when an employee dies.[1] Therefore, the general…
The Delaware Supreme Court recently affirmed a ruling which constitutes a potentially very dangerous and confusing opinion. Some might read the decision in ACW Corporation v. Maxwell, 2020 WL 678778 (Del. 2020) as a major departure from both the Delaware workers’ compensation subrogation statute and well-established subrogation law, interpreting it as declaring that lump-sum workers’…
An obscure and unpublished circuit court order from Buckingham County, Virginia, is being circulated by trial lawyers across the Old Dominion State for the proposition that a workers’ comp carrier is not entitled to subrogation for or reimbursement of any amounts it “voluntarily” pays as compensation pursuant to a lump-sum settlement of the workers’ comp…