News Digest 11/2/2006

By: Rick Waldinger

Quote of the day

"We hope it'll encourage states to adopt legislation where there is major large deductible exposure."

Wayne Wilson, executive director of the California Insurance Guarantee Association on what the National Association of Insurance Commissioners might do regarding large deductibles

Go the full story in the Workers' Comp Executive

The Department Targets Former Fremont Officers
The saga of Fremont Indemnity Company continues as the California Department of Insurance makes new allegations related to the now defunct carrier. And this time it’s personal. Find what the Department is alleging in the current print edition of Workers’ Comp Executive.
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CIGA Continues the Battle Against Remedy Temp Type Cases
Fighting to stave off tens of millions of dollars in liability, the California Insurance Guarantee Association is hoping that a new arrow in its quiver will bring fresh facts to a legal issue that has been plaguing it for over three years. Find out what new cases are popping up and how CIGA plans to challenge them in the current print edition of the Workers’ Comp Executive.
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Judges, Raters Host PDRS Free for All
The new Permanent Disability Rating Schedule is the law, or is it? Find out what creative methods are being used to get over and around the schedule, and where it could lead in the current print edition of the Workers’ Comp Executive.
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NAIC Large Deductibles Controversy
There is little doubt that employers remain on the hook for the deductible portion of claims in the event of a carrier insolvency. But who should receive the deductibles remains a matter at issue in many states. The NAIC is about to decide. Find out where California stands and what other states’ proposals are in the current print edition of the Workers Comp Executive.
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Self-Insurance: A Healthy Alternative in a Soft Market
To self-insure, or not to self insure? New regulations and the workers’ comp reforms beg the question: Is self insurance still a good alternative for California employers? Get the skinny on the numbers in the current print edition of the Workers’ Comp Executive.
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OAL Agrees to Hear Producers’ Petition
The Office of Administrative Law is giving IBA West the greenlight on a petition that outlines what most producers consider to be the California Department of Insurance’s latest high-handedness. Read all about it in the current print edition of Workers’ Comp Executive
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Business Groups Seeks to Dismantle N.Y. ‘Scaffold Law’
A coalition of businesses in western New York is waging a constitutional challenge to the state’s so-called “scaffold law,” which businesses say imposes strict liability on them when workers fall or are injured in other gravity-related injuries, even if worker negligence caused the accident. Businesses for a Better New York contends the law violates the equal protection and commerce clauses of the Constitution. The Business Review (Albany)
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Caught on Tape: Jurors See Noe Bragging About His Luxuries
Jurors in the corruption trial of politically-connected Ohio coin dealer Tom Noe, who is accused of stealing funds from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s $50 million rare coin funds, see Noe on an internet video boasting about the luxuries in his home prosecutors say his theft financed. In other bureau-related news, the troubled agency’s internal audit finds several instances in which executive staff instructed employees to change employer premium rates without sufficient documentation. By Mike Wilkinson, Toledo Blade [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…

Pennsylvania Woodchipper Trial Pushed Back
The trial of a truck driver who was towing a wood-chipper that came loose, killing a man and two of his triplets, is pushed back to next year. The owner of the wood-chipper faces trial on 537 counts of violating the state Workers’ Compensation Act for allegedly not providing employees with required coverage. By AP via Centre Daily (State College, Pa.) [First Item] Go to the Full Story…