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      • DWC RELEASES WAGE LOSS STUDY: PUBLIC HEARINGS SET
        05/30/07
        The California Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) yesterday released its third report in its study of wage loss for permanently disabled workers. A link to the study itself is included at the tail end of this post.

        This study will play a significant role in the debate over wheth

      • CHECKING OUT THE RIVER CITY
        05/29/07
        One of my favorite bars happens to be in Rio Vista, a small town on the banks of the Sacramento River. Foster's Bighorn is a throwback to another era. An era not environmentally or politically correct. The original owner was a big game hunter in the 1940s and 50s.

        Foster's coll

      • POIZNER'S ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY
        05/29/07
        Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner issued important findings today, followed by a teleconference to the media. Poizner, a Republican elected in 2006 to replace John Garamendi, issued a call for insurers to cut workers' comp rates by 14 1/2%. Because California workers' comp rates were de

      • COSTCO GETS WHAT IT WANTED
        05/25/07
        Take a trip down memory lane back to late 2003 and early 2004. The California Chamber of Commerce and various employer coalitions were pushing several different proposals to overhaul California's workers' comp system.

        Among the major players in the effort was the warehouse club

      • SCHWARZENEGGER: I WILL TERMINATE WORKERS' COMP BILLS
        05/23/07
        Recent figures from the insurance industry show that comp insurer profits now exceed benefits paid to injured workers. But despite evidence that the system remains broken, Governor Schwarzenegger continues to claim that he "fixed" comp.

        If anyone has ANY doubts about his inflexi

      • DEFENDANT ORDERED TO PAY WORKERS’ COMP ATTORNEY FEES
        05/23/07
        If a California workers’ compensation judge disapproves a settlement agreement reached between an insurer and an unrepresented worker, will the insurer be liable for fees of an attorney the worker thereafter hires? Yes, according to a March 26, 2007 decision by a panel of the statewide California Wo

      • TROUBLE IN FROG CITY
        05/20/07
        Is nothing sacred? Can't frogs just jump in peace?

        Up in Calaveras County today, some 2,000 frogs were waiting to compete for the world frog jumping championship. According to today's New York Times piece by Jesse McKinley, these frogs are kept in a cool, dark place. Limited to

      • CALIFORNIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION "FIXED" SO THAT INSURER PROFITS ARE GREATER THAN BENEFITS PAID TO WORKERS
        05/18/07

      • PIGS AT THE TROUGH
        05/16/07
        Oink! Oink! Oink! Old MacDonald had a farm... and on that farm he had a trough, e-eye e-eye o... but who would have have thought that MacDonald’s farm had become the California workers’ comp system, with insurers feeding at the trough?... e-eye e-eye o...

        Think I’m overstating the case? L

      • THE WEEK ENDETH
        05/13/07
        One of my favorite features in the San Francisco Chronicle is Earthweek. It's a syndicated column that summarizes both great world natural disasters and strange small earth disturbances.

        This week, there was news of an explosion of the gopher population in the Canadian prairie. One r

      • WORKERS COMP PD SCHEDULE RULED INVALID
        05/11/07
        Workers’ Comp Judge Jacqueline Duncan has issued a 51-page decision (Scott Boughner vs Comp USA and Zurich North America) which rules that the Schwarzenegger administration’s revision of the permanent disability schedule is invalid. It’s a decision that will create great waves in California workers’

      • NEWS FLASH: JUDGE RULES NEW CALIFORNIA RATING SCHEDULE INVALID
        05/11/07
        BREAKING NEWS:

        A Workers Compensation Judge at the San Francisco District office of the California Workers' Compensation
        Appeals Board has ruled that the new permanent disability rating schedule adopted by the Schwarzenegger administration is invalid.

        In a few hours

      • Blue Cross Blues
        05/08/07
        Lucky you.

        Undoubtedly thouands of Californians are online right now....reading the latest news about Paris Hilton's upcoming jail time, Lindsay Lohan's latest attempt at rehab, Katie Couric's poor ratings, where Britney Spears had lunch and whether she was wearing underwe

      • SHOULD THE WORKERS' COMP SYSTEM BE ABOLISHED?
        05/06/07
        Should California's workers' compensation system be abolished?

        Yes, according to a provocative article by political analyst Frank Russo, editor of the influential blog California Progress Report. You can read Russo's article by clicking here:

        http://www.californ

      • SUPREME COURT HANDS INSURERS A MAJOR VICTORY: $3,360 AMPUTATION AWARD
        05/03/07
        The California Supreme Court has just released its decision in the Brodie and Welcher cases. The 2 martini lunch went out of fashion a few years ago, but I suspect quite a few employers and insurers will be popping the champagne corks at lunch today.

        This is a BIG win for employers and in

      • SUPREME COURT RULING TOMORROW IN WELCHER
        05/02/07
        The California Supreme Court has decided the Welcher, Brodie and Dykes cases on apportionment. The court announced today that it will release the decision at 10 AM on Thursday May 3rd.

        I will be posting tomorrow on the decision and what it means for claimants. The issue to be decided is

      • IT'S THE EMPLOYER FRAUD, STUPID! - PART I
        05/01/07
        I've always been a fan of straight-talking political consultant James Carville. During the 1992 presidential campaign by Bill Clinton, Carville created a key slogan for the campaign -- "It's the economy, stupid."

        For California workers' comp, the slogan should now

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