Latest Ohio Fraud Probe Results in $16K Repay

The owner of Fairfield, Ohio firm FloodStar Restoration has been ordered to pay nearly $16,000 in restitution to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) following a fraud investigation by the agency’s Special Investigations Department.
The investigation opened after BWC’s Compliance Department received an allegation that the employer operated with lapsed BWC coverage.
The Compliance Department contacted the business, but the policy was not brought into compliance, and the case was then referred to the Employer Fraud team.
The Employer Fraud Team made several attempts to work with the owner, Daniel Hand, to resolve the policy issues, but the policy was ultimately not brought into compliance. Criminal charges were then filed against Hand in July 2025.
On Sept. 23, 2025, Hand pleaded guilty to one count of Failure to Comply, a second-degree misdemeanor. Hand was sentenced to 90 days in jail, suspended, and two years of reporting probation. Hand was also ordered to pay a fine of $750, suspended, and was ordered by the court to pay restitution totaling $15,944.36 to BWC by way of a reinstatement plan with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
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Heat exposure increases the overall risk of work injury, an effect consistent across nearly all major industries, according to new analysis of heat and workplace injuries in the United States.
The researchers found that two multi-state workers’ compensation claims analyses showed increases in injuries with extreme heat across all sectors examined.
These studies also suggested that the heat-injury association is stronger for traumatic injuries than for musculoskeletal injuries such as sprains and strains.
Based on analysis of OSHA’s Injury Tracking Applications for 2023, the academic researchers found that work injury risks begin to rise when the heat index reaches around 85°F and increase sharply after 90°F, according to a new article in Environmental Health.
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Brett Flagg has been reappointed to the Texas Mutual Insurance Company board of directors, with his new term through July 1, 2031.
Flagg, of Frisco, is an attorney and the owner of Flagg Law Group PC. in Dallas. He is a 40-year member of the Texas Bar Association.
The Texas Mutual Insurance Company provides a stable and competitive source of workers’ compensation insurance for Texas employers, acts as an insurer of last resort, and helps prevent on-the-job injuries and illnesses and minimize their consequences.
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Pinnacol Assurance has named Gabriel Lockhart its senior medical director.
He is a board-certified pulmonary and critical care physician.
Lockhart was recently elected president of medical staff at National Jewish Health and is a member of the faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
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