NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
Contact information for NWCDN members is also located on the state specific links in the event you have additional questions or your company is seeking a workers’ compensation lawyer in your state.
You might have to disgorge four times the amount of benefits withheld from the injured worker. An alternative to statutory workers’ compensation is a plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act – an ERISA plan provided to an employer by a plan insurer. Like statutory comp, an ERISA plan may provide for disability benefits for an on the job injury. Unlike statutory comp, however, an insurer who denies disability benefits may be ordered to provide withheld disability benefitsand to disgorge any “profits” on the withheld benefits under an “appropriate equitable relief” provision of the ERISA statute. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently upheld an award of withheld benefits in addition to disgorgement of four times the amount of withheld benefits representing the insurer’s “profits” on the withheld benefits. The trial court found the insurer breached its fiduciary duty simply by denying benefits. Considering the insurer’s potential exposure for disgorgement of profits as a claims handling expense, statutory comp may be a less risky option Texas.
Rochow v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., No. 12-2075, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 24271 (6th Cir. Dec. 6, 2013).