Entries for 2004/07/01 — 2005-02-07

Defense attorneys take advantage of new law....

SB899 should have been titled, "The Insurance Carrier Welfare Act." The bill applies to all claims, not matter what injury date in a number of significant ways. The most important of which is the new Labor Code section 4663. These sections allow apportionment to "causation." In other words, if you are older, with weaker joints and bones, and you get injured on the job, the carrier pays less money.

Cases currently set for trial are being taken off calendar or continued to allow the defense to obtain medical reports that address this issue. In other words, to reduce the benefits for injured workers. Premiums for most of these cases were collected long ago. Reserves were established. This means that the insurance carriers will get a windfall on a reduced payout of benefits.