The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC), recently released its Biennial Report to the Texas Legislature. The report highlights what DWC considers “significant improvments in the system.” These “improvements” include the following:
The Texas Department of Insurance on March 9, 2011, released final disciplinary decisions for violations of Division of Workers’ Compensation rules. Among these fines were the following insurer violations:
Doyle Raizer filed a workers’ compensation insurance bad faith suit on March 23, 2011, against American Zurich Insurance Company (Zurich) and its adjuster. The suit was filed on behalf of an employee who was physically assaulted while working on the job in December 2009.
On March 25, 2011, Doyle filed a workers’ compensation bad faith lawsuit against Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company and its adjuster, on behalf of an employee who was injured on the job in April 2009. After Liberty Mutual had accepted the employee’s claim and acknowledged his injury, Liberty Mutual decided to cancel treatment and surgery in spite of its pre-authorizations.
On March 30, 2011, the Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, at Austin, ruled against Zurich American Insurance Company (Zurich) and found that an injured employee’s wife was entitled to his benefits for an on-the-job injury. The Appeals court’s ruling affirmed the findings of both the 33rd District Court of Burnet County and the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC).