Judge Awards Ohio Employers $860M for Workers’ Comp Overcharges

March 22, 2013Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Ohio employers are collectively owed $860 million after being overcharged for nearly a decade by the state insurance fund for injured workers, a Cleveland judge has ruled.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Richard McMonagle’s decision involving the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation affects about 270,000 mostly small-business owners, many unaware they are covered by the class action. His order rejected the state’s arguments for paying a smaller amount.

The lawsuit, which began in 2007, said the bureau gave discounted premiums to companies that joined group insurance plans and charged companies not in the group plans excessive rates to pay for the discounts.

McMonagle ruled in December in favor of business owners who didn’t participate in the group rating program, agreeing they had been charged unfair premiums from July 2001 to June 2009.

Lawyers for the businesses argued companies paying group rates were not charged premiums that covered their losses, which forced the other companies to cover the difference. The bureau discounted its group plans as high as 90 percent.

A new fee structure took effect in July 2009, after McMonagle ordered the bureau to change its system for setting premiums for injury insurance. The maximum discount set by the bureau for group plans is 53 percent.

The amount employers are owed in overcharges has been a matter of dispute. Employers suing Ohio in 2007 originally asked for $1.3 billion, which included interest on the amount claimed, but McMonagle asked them to revise the figure downward after declining to award the interest.

During an evidentiary hearing last week, the state argued the employers did not suffer any harm that entitles them to restitution.

Spokeswoman Melissa Vince said the bureau spent $861 million more in claims costs and expenses for the affected companies during the disputed period than they paid in premiums – even as the fund’s net assets shrunk. For every dollar in premiums paid, affected businesses had $1.26 in claims costs, she said.

McMonagle ultimately rejected the bureau’s arguments.

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David Guttenfelder Wins Two Overseas Press Club Awards

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Calif. Jury Awards $10.2M To Dirt Bike Rider For Knee Injury

October 4, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticle4 Comments

A superior court jury in central California has awarded a man $10.2 million in damages that resulted from dirt bike collision in 2007 with another vehicle.

Attorneys for Stockton resident Daniel Nixon, 50, say he received what they believe to be one of the largest personal-injury verdicts in Stanislaus County history on Thursday, the Modesto Bee reported.

The case was Nixon, D Vs. Snoke, S. The August 2007 incident occurred when Nixon was riding his dirt bike along an unpaved road and crashed into an oncoming pickup. A lawsuit was filed against the truck’s driver, Susan Snoke, 52, of El Dorado County.  Nixon’s attorney argued that Snoke was in the wrong lane, causing them to collide.

Also named in the case was Yamaha of Modesto.

The crash separated Dixon’s knee, damaged the muscle and nerves in his leg, and ruptured the artery that supplies blood to his lower leg. After hospitalization and rehabilitation he returned to his job climbing and servicing wind turbine towers. But one of Nixon’s treating physicians expects that within 20 years he will need an above-the-knee amputation because of damage done in the crash, according to the Modesto Bee report.

The suit against Yamaha of Modesto, as well as one against one of his treating surgeons was dismissed.

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Georgia Jury Awards Longshoreman $5.6 Million for Injury

May 14, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

The Georgia Ports Authority is considering whether to appeal a jury verdict that awarded more than $5.6 million to a longshoreman for injuries he suffered in a collision at the Port of Savannah.

The jury last Thursday decided to award Kirk Deweese money for medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering he experienced because of an April 2005 wreck. Shortly after the jury announced its decision, Deweese was arrested for attempting to bring a loaded gun into the courthouse.

Deweese’s lawyers said he was driving a truck when a top lift backed into his vehicle, causing the truck to jackknife. He suffered injuries to his neck, back and hip that required nine surgeries and left him unable to work as a longshoreman, according to the lawsuit.

It’s unclear exactly how much money Deweese might ultimately collect. The Savannah Morning News reported that state law limits the maximum liability of the Georgia Ports Authority to $1 million. An attorney for the port, Thomas Mahoney Jr., said his client is considering an appeal.

Deweese was stopped by security officers from entering the courthouse Thursday when a scanner revealed that he had a .44-caliber revolver in a bag. The officers confiscated the gun and later arrested Deweese on charges of carrying a pistol without a license, carrying a concealed weapon and contempt of court.

He was released from jail after posting a $4,000 bond.

Deweese told The Associated Press that he lives in a high-crime area and has the gun for personal protection. He said that he accidentally placed the gun in a bag that contained papers his lawyer needed urgently in the courthouse. In the rush to deliver the papers, Deweese said he forgot to take the gun out of the bag.

“I got caught up in the moment,” he said. “I didn’t even know it was there.’

 

 

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Southeast NewsTopics: Georgia Port Authority, Georgia workers' compensation, liability cap, longshoreman injuryHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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Montana Jury Awards Damages In Landslide Lawsuit

April 9, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

A Gallatin County jury has awarded over $1 million in damages to two couples who unknowingly purchased property on an active landslide at a private ski resort and golf community in southwestern Montana in 2005.

Last summer, a judge found two companies that sold lots at Spanish Peaks guilty of breach of several consumer protection laws for failing to tell the couples about the landslide.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported a jury heard six days of testimony before deciding Thursday to award Donald and Darla Harbaugh nearly $565,000 and Mel and Charline Harbaugh $545,000 in damages from Spanish Peaks Holdings.

Spanish Peaks Holdings II LLC filed for bankruptcy protection in October claiming $10 million to $50 million in assets and $100 million to $500 million in liabilities.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: West NewsTopics: damages, landslide, lawsuit, liabilities, Spanish Peaks Holdings II LLCHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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