On March 23, 2015, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed into law Senate Bill 411, making substantial changes to Oregon’s Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) and uninsured/underinsured (“UM/UIM”) statutes. The Bill amends several Oregon statutes and doubles the PIP medical benefit period from one year to two years. It also changes Oregon UM policies from a “difference…
DetailsThe campaign to establish liability under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in connection with subrogation took an interesting turn recently, but ultimately reached another dead end. The federal judiciary has made it clear, time and again, that the FDCPA does not apply to third-party subrogation claims because they are not “debts” as defined…
DetailsIt is entitled “An Act to clarify reimbursement of workers’ compensation insurers to prevent double recovery by injured workers in third-party cases”, but, as with most deceptive titles to pieces of legislation, it is more of a license for trial lawyers to destroy a time-honored right of reimbursement promised to small businesses across Massachusetts. In…
DetailsJuris Publishing, Inc. has released the latest and most comprehensive edition of Workers’ Compensation Subrogation In All 50 States, the firm’s unique treatise on the subject. The book is carried on the shelves of every law school in the country and is considered the authoritative resource on the subject. There are very few areas in…
DetailsApproximately 12% to 14% of all accidents result in a total loss, a number which has been trending upward since 2002. Insurance companies faced with first-party claims on policies are responsible for paying the actual cash value or market value of an insured’s vehicle so the insured can replace it with a similar vehicle. In…
DetailsRepublican Ohio Governor John Kasich sure doesn’t act like a Republican. When a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court made it relatively simple for states to reject Obamacare’s costly expansion of Medicare on the backs of state taxpayers, many governors took advantage of the opportunity. Not Governor Kasich. Despite emphasizing opposition to Obamacare in…
DetailsOklahoma has seen its share of changes in its workers’ compensation laws of recent. On May 6, 2013, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed S.B. 1062 into law, creating a new Title 85A of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Act to operate in parallel with existing Title 85, and once again reform that state’s workers’ compensation laws…
DetailsThe Court in the case of Dilger v. Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company (“Metropolitan”), Appeal No. 2014AP1851, determined that a claimant, upon proper compliance with the statutory requirements, is entitled to interest pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 628.46(1). In this particular case, the plaintiff, Dilger, was a police officer for the City of Brookfield…
DetailsIn a lawsuit setting forth a common factual scenario found in many civil cases, the court had an opportunity and did decide with specificity the applicable provisions in Chapter 814 of the Wisconsin Statutes. In the case of Weber v. Auto-Owners Insurance Company (“Auto-Owners”), Appeal No. 2014AP1953, the Appellate Court dealt with a situation wherein…
DetailsIn a recent Wisconsin case, Smith v. Acuity Insurance, Appeal No. 2014AP1587, the Court was confronted with an interpretation over the “drive other car” exclusion within a policy issued by Acuity Insurance. In this case, the plaintiff, while riding a motorcycle, was involved in a motor vehicle accident with another vehicle who was covered by…
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