Workers’ comp to be lower in Connecticut

• Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced that businesses in the state will receive a nearly 10% decrease in workers’ compensation insurance rates beginning on Jan. 1, 2024.
• The Connecticut Insurance Department has approved an annual workers’ compensation rate filing for 2024 with a decrease of 9.8% to voluntary market loss costs and 10.5% in assigned risk plan rates.
• This is the tenth consecutive year that the department has approved rate decreases.
• This trend reflects a noticeable decline in workplace injuries and filed claims, resulting in cumulative savings of more than $300 million in reduced premium expenses for businesses.
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Pennsylvania Court clarifies workers’ comp case

• A Pennsylvania appellate court ruled workers compensation attorney acting as a claimant in a case against his law firm was entitled to recoup costs to purchase cannabidiol (CBD) oil to treat his workplace injury.
• The Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board erred in overturning a comp judge’s decision permitting reimbursement, rhe Commonwealth Court said.
• Attorney Mark Schmidt injured his back while loading files into his trial bag.
• He was approved for medical expenses and later sought reimbursement for the costs of his doctor-prescribed CBD oil.
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• A side wall on the second floor of a home under construction came down and briefly pinned the worker in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
• Other workers were able to remove him from beneath the structure before the fire department arrived.
• The worker suffered “traumatic non-life-threatening injuries,” and had to be removed from the second floor of the building by rescue personnel, fire officials said.
• He was taken by ambulance to a landing zone at Falmouth Hospital and then flown by medical helicopter to the Rhode Island Hospital Trauma Center in Providence.
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Doctor, clinic owner sentenced for $5M pill scheme

• Jonathan Rosenfield, of Atlanta and Elmer Taylor 44 of Houston were sentenced to 10 and 12 years in prison, following their guilty pleas to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances.
• Rosenfield owned, operated, and was a physician at the two Sunnyside Medical pill-mill clinics and Elmer Taylor co-owned and co-operated the clinics.
• Rosenfield, Taylor, and their co-conspirators issued prescriptions for opioids, including approximately 752,000 pills of oxycodone and 419,000 pills of hydrocodone, under Rosenfield’s name.
• Co-defendants Sokari “Momma” Bobmanuel and Alantha Stewart were previously sentenced to 14 years and 10 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in the scheme.
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