Columns

When Employees Work From Home: Work Comp Subrogation and the Remote Employee

When employees work remotely from home or other locations, the normal rules of course and scope can become complicated and confusing. The same is true of subrogation potential. When the employee is injured in their home, subrogation targets tend to …

Massachusetts Weighs in on 3rd-Party Liability For Diminished Value Damages

A federal district court in Massachusetts has ruled that Massachusetts tort law does not provide for recovery of “inherent diminution in value” damages by a third-party claimant. Martins v. Vermont Mutual Ins. Co., 2019 WL 3818293 (D. Mass. 2019). The …

Subrogation Settlements and the IRS

Almost any time money changes hands in America, there are tax issues. The Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) is over 2,600 pages long, and contains fives times as many words as the Bible. The federal tax rules and resources within the …

Beating The Statute of Limitations: Filing Suit is Only Half the Battle

We are frequently asked by clients to file suit in a case in which the statute of limitations expires in a matter of a day—even hours. In some cases, we are asked to file in order to toll an impending …

Paying Overhead and Profit in First-Party Claims

Standard homeowner policies pay personal property claims at actual cash value (ACV), which is the replacement cost (RC) of the damaged property based on its current used condition. In other words, it is valued at what it would cost to …

Even Monkeys Cannot Explain Why Companies Insist on Subrogation Waivers

Most state workers’ compensation laws, or cases construing them, allow the employer and its carrier to waive its right to subrogate against a third party that caused or contributed to an employee’s injury. The purpose of a subrogation waiver is …

Subrogation Counsel, Data Breaches, And Cybersecurity

What do you really know about the strengths and weakness of the cybersecurity measures taken by the subrogation counsel and recovery vendors you engage to assist with subrogation recoveries? This past April, Yahoo entered into a $117.5 million settlement in …

Fraud Alleged After Carrier Included Case Management Fees in Subrogation Lien: Viewpoint

In addition to paying for medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or indemnity benefits for lost wages resulting from a compensable injury, workers’ compensation insurance carriers also expend considerable dollars for case management costs, medical bill audit fees, rehabilitation benefits, …

Sidewalk Defects Liability: In Most States, Size Matters

Insurance claim files are overflowing with losses involving individuals injured when they trip and fall over cracked, broken, or uneven municipal sidewalks. In many cases, the injury is a direct result of a municipality failing to institute and/or conscientiously follow …

N.J. Court Prohibits Lawyer from Asking Client at Trial if Vehicle Totaled

A New Jersey Superior Court judge recently issued a written ruling, holding that, as a matter of first impression, it was inappropriate for a lawyer to question his client during trial as to whether his vehicle was “totaled” as a …

Columns Archives by Month