Insurance Commissioner Rejects Request for Increase in Workers' Comp  Cost Benchmark. Commissioner Steve Poizner announced last Friday his Order to reject a filing submitted by the WCIRB seeking a rate increase of almost 28%. According to the Commissioner, "workers' compensation insurers have failed to demonstrate that they have adopted procedures to control costs or that they are operating efficiently." In his decision, the Commissioner noted that California is now the fifth most costly state for workers' compensation insurance. The Commissioner said he would not approve "a rate that passes avoidable costs through to California employers." He further noted, among other things, that the "California Supreme Court declined review of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board's decision to expand the use of the AMA Guides for Impairment for permanent disability benefits" and that "the likelihood of unpredictable costs and further litigation increases." The Commissioner reminds everyone that the Benchmark is "purely advisory and the California Department of Insurance (CDI) does not set workers' compensation rates." > Read more 

Attorney's Fees in a Post-COLA World. Labor Code Section 4659(c) mandates that for injuries occurring after January 1, 2000, awards resulting in either a life pension or total permanent disability indemnity shall be increased by an amount equal to the percentage increase in the "state average weekly wage" as compared to the prior year. This is commonly referred to as the "cost of living adjustment" or COLA. Currently, the precise date that the annual increases are to be calculated from is pending before the California Supreme Court in Duncan v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. and X.S. 2010 Cal. LEXIS 2255.Regardless of the commencement date chosen by Duncan, however, a reality has set in that the annual increases mandated by Section 4659(c) result in a substantial increase in the present value of the benefits being awarded. > Read More