TN Governor Signs Insurance Bill

• Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has signed a bill to ensure self-insured workers’ comp claims get paid.
• The bill HB 2306/SB 2090 provides a mechanism to guaranty the payment of the claims to avoid financial loss to injured workers in the event the self-insured employer becomes insolvent.
• An association will be provided to assess the cost of the protection among self-insured employers.
• All member self-insurers must remain members of the association.
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Court: You Waited too Long

• The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division rules that the injured worker failed to timely submit a workers’ comp claim or demonstrate prejudice by his employer.
• The injured worker, Stephen Philbin, suffered a shoulder injury working for the New York City Housing Authority. He delayed reporting it and attempted to file a late workers’ comp claim.
• He did not file the claim within a statutory period or reasonable timeframe. Thus, NYCHA received no notice of the claim. Philbin’s excuse was that he did not realize the seriousness of his shoulder injury until months later.
• The court ruled that did not constitute and excuse for not submitting claims forms. In addition, photographs of the scaffolding where the accident occurred did not appear in the same shape as it did when the injury took place.
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Two Busted for Fraud

• A New York crime task force has arrested a couple of men for workers’ comp fraud.
• Hunter Diaz and Bryan Dunn allegedly made off with a $30,000 in workers’ comp checks intended for Dunn’s mother. His mother had passed away.
• Both men have been charged with grand larceny and insurance fraud.
• They have been released with an appearance ticket.
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