Kansas Flag

Kansas Decision Reveals Danger of Not Intervening In Workers’ Compensation Third-Party Litigation

Kansas Decision Introduces Concept of “Statutory Deficit”. The Kansas Court of Appeals is holding class on why it is important to have subrogation counsel in workers’ compensation subrogation third-party cases – even in states which are favorable to carriers. In the 2020 case of Hawkins v. Southwest Kansas Co-op Service, 2020 WL 1649867 (Kan. App.…

Read more
New Jersey Flag

New Jersey Says Workers’ Comp Carrier Gets Reimbursed Before Self-Insured Employer

City of Asbury Park v. Star Insurance Company, 2020 WL 3493526 (N.J. 2020). Large deductible workers’ compensation programs and policies with large self-insured retentions (SIR) were first introduced to the American insurance industry in the late 1980s with limited deductible options for medical and death benefits. Over time they have grown to become a key…

Read more
New Jersey Flag

New Jersey Supreme Court Confirms That Workers’ Compensation Subrogation Is Not Limited By No-Fault Laws

New Jersey Transit Corp. v. Sanchez, 2020 WL 2374054 (N.J. 2020). On May 12, 2020, the New Jersey Supreme Court answered a long-standing subrogation question regarding whether a workers’ compensation carrier is entitled to subrogation and/or reimbursement from a third-party tortfeasor who is covered by New Jersey no-fault insurance, even though the employee does not…

Read more
Covid-19 Lady at Desk

California Governor’s Order Creates Presumption COVID-19 Contracted At Work

Workers’ compensation carriers and liability insurers have been in a state of high anxiety regarding the inevitable insurance claims which will result from employees contracting COVID-19 once businesses begin to reopen and employees all return to life as usual. At least in California, insurers received a little clarity in the form of Governor Gavin Newson’s…

Read more
War Hazard Compensation Act

War Hazards Compensation Act Reimbursement Claims

It’s Like Taking Candy from a Very, Very Particular Baby Congress enacted the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) to provide workers’ compensation to specified employees of private maritime employers. 33 U.S.C. §§ 901-950. The Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs administers this Act, just as it does the Federal Employment Compensation Act (FECA). 5…

Read more