CA - 4th DCA Upholds JNOV Awarding Additional Premium to SCIF
05/12/2026 | 0
A California appellate court upheld a trial judge’s entry of a judgment notwithstanding a jury’s verdict, finding that State Compensation Insurance Fund was entitled to an additional $555,327.53 in premium from an employer.
ReadyLink is a staffing agency that supplies temporary nurses to healthcare providers. From September 2001 through February 2007, ReadyLink used State Fund for workers’ compensation coverage.
The SCIF policy required a payment of an annual premium that was to be “determined by [reference to SCIF’s] manuals of rules, rates, rating plans a...
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A New York appellate court ruled that the defendants in a Labor Law claim were entitled to summary judgment dismissing part of the worker’s action.
Case: Pina v. City of New York, No. 22985/19, 04/19/2026, published.
Facts: Richard Pina allegedly suffered injuries while working on a construction project at a property owned by the New York City Housing Authority and Mill Brook Housing Development Fund Co. Inc.
Pina claimed he was hurt when a mini-dumpster filled with concrete debris tipped over and fell on him.
Procedural history: Pina filed suit against the city and Mill Brook, asser...
A New York appellate court upheld an award of death benefits to the dependent adult child of a worker who died of COVID-19.
Case: Matter of Villalba v. Rite Aid Pharmacy, No. CV-24-1580, 04/16/2026, published.
Facts: Ramon Galeas worked for Rite Aid Pharmacy. He died in March 2020 after contracting COVID-19 while working.
Galeas was not married at the time of his death, and he had a son who was born in 1991.
Procedural history: A legal guardian filed a claim for workers’ compensation death benefits on behalf of the son and Galeas’ estate.
A workers’ compensation law judg...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a denial of permanent partial disability benefits for a worker with a knee injury.
Case: Casbarro v. Anthony Correctional Center, No. 25-ICA-324, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Arthur Casbarro worked for the Anthony Correctional Center. He filed a workers’ compensation claim in July 2023, indicating that he sustained an injury to his right knee when a co-worker hit him.
A claims administrator for the center’s insurance carrier accepted liability for a contusion to the right knee.
Casbarro underwent a magnetic r...
The California Department of Insurance will hold a virtual hearing June 9 on a proposal to raise the advisory pure premium rate by 10.4%.
In April, the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau recommended that the department increase the advisory rate to $1.71 per $100 of payroll from $1.55 for policies incepting on or after Sept. 1.
Drivers of the proposed increase include cumulative trauma claim frequency and average allocated loss adjustment expenses, which have both reached all-time highs, the WCIRB said in the annual rate filing.
Other drivers include higher loss develop...
The California Division of Workers' Compensation proposed adopting the latest versions of ankle and hip treatment guidelines published by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The division is proposing to incorporate into the Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule the Jan. 29 revision to ACOEM's Ankle and Foot Disorders Guideline. The treatment guidelines currently include the July 2018 version of the ankle guide.
Additionally, the division is proposing to replace the April 2019 version of the Hip and Groin Disorders Guideline with the latest Jan. 29 update...
The Colorado General Assembly unanimously voted to send the governor a bill that would create a process to update experience modification factors when actual payments on a closed claim are lower than the loss reserves reported by the carrier.
At the same time, the state House of Representatives voted to return to the Senate an amended bill that would make proof of workers' compensation coverage a prerequisite to receive a building permit, construction permit or contractor license.
The House on Friday voted 63-0 to pass SB 175, which would allow employers to request a correction to an exp...
A Texas appeals court shut down a widow's efforts to recover death benefits, finding that a county's risk management pool is a governmental entity shielded by sovereign immunity and that the attempt to challenge a denial through a declaratory judgment action was a jurisdictional dead end.
Neil Adams, a San Jacinto County deputy constable, worked off-hours as private security at a mall in Houston. He was wearing his constable uniform while working security at the mall on Feb. 23, 2022, when he was fatally shot during an interaction with a customer whose credit card was declined.
His w...
A New York appellate court upheld a determination that an independent medical examiner’s report did not need to be precluded from evidence.
Case: Matter of Figueroa v. Sing Sing Correctional Facility, No. CV-25-0451, 04/16/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: Karen Figueroa worked at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility. She was injured at work in September 2022 when her left arm was hit by a gate while she was attempting to close it.
Figueroa filed a workers’ compensation claim, and following a course of treatment, a permanency report indicated that she had sustai...
West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the authorization for an occipital nerve stimulator to treat a worker’s head injury.
Case: Marshall County Coal Resources Inc. v. Shuler, No. 25-ICA-395, 04/07/2026, published.
Facts: Dan Shuler worked for Marshall County Coal Resources Inc. as a mine bolter. He filed a workers’ compensation claim for injuries he sustained in February 2023 when a rock fell from above and landed on his head.
A claims administrator for MCCR’s insurance carrier accepted liability for an unspecified injury to the head and strain o...
A Louisiana appellate court upheld an award of benefits and penalties to a worker for her injuries from a fall she sustained as she was arriving for work, but it vacated her award of attorney fees.
Case: Ralser v. Harrah’s New Orleans, No. 2025-CA-0767, 04/22/2026, published.
Facts: Terri Ralser worked for Harrah’s New Orleans Casino. On Feb. 22, 2024, as she was arriving for her overnight shift, Ralser tripped and fell over an extended arm of a forklift that was parked adjacent to the employee entrance to the casino.
Procedural history: The Office of Workers’ Compensation...
The California Assembly Appropriations Committee placed a hold on bills proposing to overhaul the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund and to allow injured workers to receive medical treatment during the workday.
The committee on Wednesday sent AB 1576 and AB 2098 to its suspense file, which serves as a sort of holding place for bills with projected costs of $50,000 to the general fund or at least $150,000 to other funds, such as the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund.
The proposed SIBTF reforms in AB 1576, by Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro, would require:
...
The California Assembly unanimously passed a bill that would permanently allow employers to pay indemnity benefits with prepaid debit cards.
The Assembly on Thursday voted 66-0 to pass AB 1683, with 14 members not casting a vote.
AB 1683 would indefinitely extend a pilot program, created in 2018, that allowed the use of debit cards to pay indemnity benefits. The bill would eliminate a Jan. 1, 2027, sunset date.
Under the program, employers or carriers have the option of using electronic payment cards with the written consent of the injured worker.
The Commission on Heal...
Colorado lawmakers are exploring new ways to allow Pinnacol Assurance to sell insurance in other states without severing ties with its home state, according to a report by Colorado Politics.
Though a ballot initiative and prior legislative proposals involved privatizing the carrier, the latest pitch would just restructure it as a different type of quasi-state agency that's not constrained to writing workers' compensation policies in Colorado.
Pinnacol would be treated as a mutual insurance company, according to Colorado Politics.
But the carrier would be classified as a s...
Inpatient hospitalization rates stabilized in 2024 after nearly a decade of steady declines, while spinal surgeries resumed a long-term downward trend after a brief interruption during the pandemic, the California Workers' Compensation Institute said in a report published Thursday.
Overall, workers' compensation represents a small share of hospital care, accounting for 10,322 of the 2.7 million inpatient discharges in 2024. Work comp inpatient stays fell about 50% over the last decade, dropping to 0.38% of statewide hospitalizations in 2024 from 0.82% in 2013.
Over the same per...