Search Our Site

In accordance with a previously-agreed restructuring plan with lenders, Patriot National, Inc., an insurance technology and outsourcing firm, has officially filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reorganization. The chapter 11 filing was made Jan. 30 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware by the company and its direct and indirect U.S.-based subsidiaries. Click to read more:

In November 2016, Florida voters approved Constitutional Amendment 2, which created a constitutional right to use medical marijuana for individuals with certain “debilitating medical conditions” as determined by a licensed Florida physician. Currently, the list of medical conditions includes: Click to read more:

A former employee is suing a St. Petersburg lumber company, alleging wrongful termination. Jonathan Haight filed a complaint Jan. 4 in Pinellas Circuit Court against Tibbetts Lumber Co LLC, alleging he was fired after seeking benefits for an injured shoulder. Click to read more:

Workers’ compensation rates have been reduced by nearly 10 percent this year but state legislative leaders said this week they want to make some changes to the system designed to help injured workers return to their jobs. Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran fast-tracked the House’s workers’ compensation bill (HB 7009), passed by the chamber by a 74-30 vote on Friday. Click to read more:

n 2014, Abednego nearly severed his index finger while working construction. His boss hired him without verifying his documents. After the injury, he was fired and denied medical care. He was arrested for fraud and spent 33 days in detention. A Florida lawmaker said he will file a measure in the session that began Tuesday to require employers and insurers to pay workers’ compensation benefits to undocumented workers injured on the job who now can be denied coverage. Click here to read more:

Injured workers racked up nearly $186 million in approved legal fees in 2016-2017, a 36 percent increase from the previous year, a state report on the workers' compensation insurance system shows. In all, attorneys' fees in the workers compensation system totaled nearly $440 million during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. The majority -- nearly $254 million -- were forked out by employers defending workers' compensation claims. Click to read more:

When the Castellanos v. Next Door Company case from the Florida Supreme Court came down in April 2016, striking down caps on fees for attorneys who represent injured workers, uncertainty abounded. The ruling was hotly anticipated, with attorneys on both sides of the spectrum, businesses and insurance companies all speculating not only as to what the ruling would ultimately be, but also as to what practical effect it would have on businesses, the insurance industry and workers’ compensation claims. In December 2016, some of that uncertainty was removed, when a 14.5-percent increase in premiums for workers’ compensation insurance for businesses was effectuated (with 10.1 percent of this increase due to the Castellanos case alone). This substantial increase perturbed many, as the National Council of Compensation Insurance (NCCI), an organization that files recommended rates on behalf of insurance companies, has subsequently admitted that the 14.5 percent rate increase was not based upon any relevant data or a quantitative analysis, but was rather based on market projections. Click to Read More:

Florida insurance regulators took over Fort Lauderdale-based Guarantee Insurance Co. on Monday and have started liquidating its assets, a spokesman for the Department of Financial Services confirmed Thursday. “Officials will be on site assisting (Guarantee) with moving forward through the liquidation processes,” the spokesman wrote in an email. “With the entry of the liquidation order, the applicable state guaranty associations will be activated to help pay outstanding covered claims of (Guarantee’s) workers compensation policies. The processing and payment of pending covered claims will be transitioned to the appropriate state guaranty associations.” Click here to read more:

Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation is asking the state’s chief financial officer to initiate delinquency proceedings against an insurer underwriting workers compensation, claiming the company “is impaired or insolvent” or “is about to become insolvent,” according to a letter issued Friday. Click here to read more:

Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier has ordered a statewide overall workers’ compensation rate decrease of 9.8 percent, a slightly higher decrease than the 9.6 percent decrease filed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) back in August. Altmaier’s order disapproving NCCI’s 2018 rate filing was issued by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation on Tuesday, and stated NCCI’s rate request be amended and refiled by Nov. 7, 2017. Click here to read more:

Last year the National Council on compensation Insurance made a startling announcement—workers comp rates needed to jump almost 20 percent. It was concerned about two court cases scrapping attorney fee provisions in state law. In the end, state regulators approved a modified request increasing rates by about 14 percent instead. Now the same organization says rates can come down by about nine percent. “Specifically claim frequency is down more than eight percent in the last two years,” NCCI executive Jeff Eddinger explains, “and this is really the major driver behind the proposed rate decrease.” Click here to read more:

Regulators pressed representatives of a workers’ compensation insurance rating service Wednesday about whether two Florida Supreme Court rulings had in fact increased the cost of administering claims, as many had feared. The answer: Still too soon to say. Nor is it clear that carriers adjusted their reserves or other practices in response to the rulings to any degree of consistency. “At this point, the data is too immature,” said Jay Rosen, senior actuary for the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which proposed rates for around 240 Florida carriers. Click here to read more: