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:

A bill expanding workers’ compensation coverage to first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder has been filed for the 2018 Legislative session. Senate Bill 126 would make first responders with PTSD eligible for lost wages without also having a physical injury. “We’re going to start pushing the committee chairs to hear the bill. We already have a house sponsor,” said Kissimmee Democrat Victor Torres, who filed the bill. “Just gearing up to make sure we move this as quickly as possible.” Click here to read more:

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) will conduct a public hearing to discuss the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s (NCCI) proposed overall statewide average workers’ compensation premium decrease of 9.6 percent on Oct. 18 at 1:00 pm EST. The public hearing will be held at 412 Knott Building, 404 South Monroe Street, Florida Capitol Complex in Tallahassee. The proposed rate decrease, filed in August, includes a statewide average rate decrease of 9.3 percent and a reduction of the fixed expense cost applicable to every workers’ compensation policy in Florida from $200 to $160. If approved, the new rates would take effect Jan. 1, 2018. Click here to read more:

Just a year after dire predictions that the state's economy was in peril due to rising insurance costs, Florida businesses could see an average 9.3 percent reduction in workers' compensation premiums in the coming year under a rate filing Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier will consider later this month. If approved, manufacturing businesses could see a 10.3 percent reduction in their workers' compensation rates, and rates for office and clerical businesses could decrease by 11.3 percent. Click here to read more:

Anti-fraud strike teams comprised of investigators working for the Department of Financial Services’ Division of Investigative and Forensic Services will soon be deployed across the state in an effort to to protect Floridians from post-storm fraud, according to a statement from the Florida Department of Financial Services. CFO Patronis announced the formation of three teams that will work in areas heavily impacted by Hurricane Irma: South Florida, including Miami-Dade and Monroe counties; Southwest Florida, including Lee and Collier counties; and Central Florida, including Polk and Orange counties. Click here to read more:

In a story Sept. 13 on whether workers’ compensation should cover medical marijuana, The Associated Press reported erroneously the name of a compensation insurance trade group. It is the National Council on Compensation Insurance, not the National Counsel for Compensation Insurance. A corrected version of the story is below: Insurer says it shouldn’t have to pay for medical marijuana The Maine supreme court is wading into the issue of medical marijuana and workers’ compensation Click here to read more:

A Miami-based bakery is facing $129,000 in proposed penalties from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for exposing workers to amputation, fire and noise hazards. OSHA inspected Hometown Foods USA, a commercial bakery doing business as Bagelmania Inc., after receiving a complaint alleging machine guarding, forklift and noise hazards. OSHA cited Hometown Foods for 16 serious and other-than-serious safety and health violations for its failure to ensure proper machine guarding on several pieces of equipment, develop and implement an emergency action plan, provide personal protective equipment, develop and implement a hazardous energy control program, and ensure all safety devices on ovens were inspected at least twice a month, according to a press release issued by the agency Thursday. Click here to read more: