2025 Workers’ Comp Assessments
The Department of Industrial Relations has released its assessments for 2025. The charges are added to employer’s workers’ comp policies, and self-insureds are assessed differently. DIR says the total cost …
Tagged in: workers’ comp
Broker Enhances Relationship
Dear Editor: I have been an insurance broker for 27 years, during which time I have dealt with the problematic California business environment and insurance marketplace. Your publication gives me ideas about where industry segments are headed, indications of overall marketplace conditions, and, importantly, California’s legal environment. You recently published articles about …
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Ninth Circuit Interprets AMA Guides Application In USL&H Case
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal says an injured longshoreman with hearing loss in one ear and bilateral tinnitus is only due benefits for the actual loss of hearing suffered on the job and cannot obtain a bilateral rating under the AMA Guides. However, the court left unanswered the question of whether the worker’s tinnitus …
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Injured Brakeman Gets New Trial & Expert Witness
The Second District Court of Appeal ordered a new trial in Terrence Richard’s negligence lawsuit against Union Pacific Railroad company after being injured in a fall from the train where he was working as a brakeman. The second time around Richards will also be able to call his expert witness who was originally blocked from …
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Roofer Gets Second Chance In Premium Dispute
A California employer will get a second chance to fight a collection effort for allegedly unpaid workers’ comp premium. The employer failed to respond to the complaint and summons in a timely manner but claimed it confused the dates for responding with a later date for a case management conference that was listed in the …
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Workers’ Comp Exclusivity Bars Assault Claim
The Second District Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal of a worker’s lawsuit against his employer following a workplace assault by a co-worker that left him injured. The court says there is no question that the employer met its obligations under the Labor Code by investigating the incident and taking disciplinary action against the aggressor. …
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Charges In Southern California Kickback Scheme
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced a 13-count felony complaint against a twice-convicted felon that accuses him of running a kickback scheme that generated $100 million in fraudulent bills on workers’ comp claims. Charged along with three others, the ringleader allegedly created a medical management company that ran clinics and steered workers’ comp claimants …
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Ninth Circuit Upholds Conviction But Questions Restitution Amount
After a de novo review, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal judge affirmed on all counts Sam Solakyan’s conviction for running a workers’ comp bribery scheme that generated $263 million in fraudulent claims. Justice Gabriel Sanchez, however, ordered a lower court to revisit the amount of restitution that is owed to consider the amounts insurers …
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