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A Florida judge recently shot down NCCI and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s (OIR) 14.5 percent rate hike for workers’ comp in that state, saying that NCCI held “secret” meetings without public notice, and because it is statutorily recognized, acted improperly in doing so. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Miami-based attorney James Fee, who sued the organization in August in order to “introduce some required clarity and transparency into the opaque world of workers’ compensation insurance rates in Florida.” Click here to read more:

Palm Beach firefighter/paramedic Jeremy DeRosa was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on Dec. 12, charged with one count of workers’ compensation fraud. State officials allege he misrepresented the extent of an injury while out of work and collecting his full pay under workers’ compensation. Click here to read more:

We need climate change in the State of Florida. Big time! What kind of climate change you may ask? Well, I ask you this: when you think of “workers’ compensation fraud,” what comes to mind? The “injured” worker collecting a disability check and caught on video climbing on a roof, working, right? Well, hold your horses! That knife cuts both ways. Carriers and Employers can commit “fraud” too. It just doesn’t make great headlines when an employer or insurance carrier commits workers’ compensation fraud, because there is usually no spectacular video. The result: no media coverage = no political coverage = injured workers get shut out of Tallahassee. Click here to read more:

City Council members got some unwelcome news about a particular part of the budget recently as Mayor Rick Kriseman outlined his spending plan for next year. Workers' compensation costs spiked 45 percent in the past year, officials learned at a workshop last week. That is projected to cost the city $3.1 million more in the 2015 budget. Click here to read more:

An Orange County restaurant owner is facing felony charges because investigators say she didn't carry workers' compensation insurance. The owner of Greek Flame Taverna, in the Doctor Phillips' area, was arrested as she came back into the country from a trip abroad. Click here to read more:

The Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice'sOffice of Chief State's Attorney issued the following news: KATHLEEN WILLIAMS, age 66, of 1335 Fleming Avenue 52, Ormond Beach, Florida,was arrested today and charged with one count each of Workers' Compensation Fraud and Larceny in the First Degree. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, in July of 1986, Williams' husband sustained a work-related injury and, as a result of that injury, began to receive permanent total disability workers' compensation benefits. From January of 2008 through August 2009, Liberty Mutual Insurance made several attempts to resolve the remainder of the claim with a lump sum settlement benefit payment to Williams' husband. All Settlement offers made by Liberty Mutual were rejected, according to the warrant. Click here to read more:

On Aug. 13, a Miami-Dade County Circuit Court judge declared that the state’s workers’ compensation system is unconstitutional and an inadequate alternative to allowing workers to take their employers to court for injuries and illnesses caused by employers’ negligence or, as is too often the case, reckless indifference to health and safety (“Workers’ Compensation Act declared unconstitutional,” Aug. 17). Many injured workers I have interviewed over the past decade would never have thought they would see the day when a court finally said that the emperor has no clothes. Click here to read more:

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater today announced that an investigation in Naples by the Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud has revealed that as many as 146 employees of Fruit Dynamics, LLC, more commonly known as Incredible Fresh or Collier County Produce, may have committed workers’ compensation fraud. At least 27 of these employees are also believed to have stolen the identities of victims from 25 different other states. Click here to read more:

A Florida appeals court said Wednesday that highway maintenance contractor VMS Inc. could assert workers' compensation immunity in a negligence suit filed by a sub-subcontractor's employee because VMS had fulfilled its statutory duty by securing coverage for its subcontractor. Florida's Third District Court of Appeal reversed a lower court's partial summary judgment ruling that said VMS was estopped from asserting workers' compensation immunity because it had not reported the incident to its compensation carrier. Click here to read more:

Florida’s workers’ compensation insurers, already on record recommending an average 2.5 percent cut in rates, now say that a 3.3 percent cut is justified. The modification in the industry’s rate filing by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) rating organization is the result of lower than expected hospital charges that could save insurers about 0.8 percent or $26 million. Click here to read more:

A South Florida appeals court Monday heard arguments in a challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s workers-compensation insurance system — as two other closely watched challenges also await rulings at the Florida Supreme Court. The 3rd District Court of Appeal took up a case in which a Miami-Dade County circuit judge ruled last year that a key underpinning of workers-compensation laws was unconstitutional. That underpinning involves cases being handled through the workers-compensation insurance system instead of through civil lawsuits. Click here to read more:

Natasha Hallett was a longtime performer at Cirque du Soleil, playing a key role in the circus giant’s La Nouba show in Orlando, Fla. Then she made a mistake. Ms. Hallett says she forgot to put a double loop through her harness for a flying trick, and a colleague didn’t notice the oversight during a safety check. She tumbled about 40 feet to the stage during a Cirque performance, shattering 19 bones from the waist down. “Like a horse that broke its leg, once you are injured you are pretty much no good for them anymore,” Ms. Hallett said. Click here to read more: