The US Supreme Court ruled that the direct action claims against Travelers Insurance Company for its conduct in the asbestos conspiracy with Johns-Manville Corporation (Manville) were barred by the 1986 reorganization plan of the Manville.
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
US Supreme Court Bars Direct Asbestos Claims Against Travelers Insurance
Friday, July 25, 2014
Court Orders Travelers Insurance to Pay $500 Million Asbestos Settlement
Today's post is shared from the wsj.com
Travelers Cos. reported an 18% decline in second-quarter operating profit as insurance claims from wind and hail storms eroded earnings, which were below analyst estimates and a catalyst for a sharp drop in the company's shares Tuesday.
Separately, the company was hit with an adverse ruling in a long-running case involving asbestos-related claims of more than $500 million tied to the insurer's coverage of Johns-Manville Corp. decades ago.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a 2012 ruling by a lower court. The ruling by the federal appellate court in New York directed Travelers to make the $500 million payment, plus interest.
"We are still reviewing the decision, but this is a matter we have disclosed for more than 10 years and we have contemplated this as a potential outcome in our reserving, although we do not have a provision for interest," a Travelers' spokesman said. The company estimated the interest at approximately $75 million, before taxes.
In afternoon trading, Travelers shares were down 4.3% at $91.15 amid gains in the broader equities market. With the decline, Travelers shares are up 0.7% in 2014.
One of the country's largest property-casualty insurers, Travelers often sets the tone for industry earnings that will be announced by its peers in the coming weeks. Analysts watch closely how it is maneuvering through a competitive price environment while low interest rates continue to put pressure on...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
Click here to read the Court Decision In Re: Johns-Manville Corporation et al, decided 7/22/2014
Travelers Cos. reported an 18% decline in second-quarter operating profit as insurance claims from wind and hail storms eroded earnings, which were below analyst estimates and a catalyst for a sharp drop in the company's shares Tuesday.
Separately, the company was hit with an adverse ruling in a long-running case involving asbestos-related claims of more than $500 million tied to the insurer's coverage of Johns-Manville Corp. decades ago.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a 2012 ruling by a lower court. The ruling by the federal appellate court in New York directed Travelers to make the $500 million payment, plus interest.
"We are still reviewing the decision, but this is a matter we have disclosed for more than 10 years and we have contemplated this as a potential outcome in our reserving, although we do not have a provision for interest," a Travelers' spokesman said. The company estimated the interest at approximately $75 million, before taxes.
In afternoon trading, Travelers shares were down 4.3% at $91.15 amid gains in the broader equities market. With the decline, Travelers shares are up 0.7% in 2014.
One of the country's largest property-casualty insurers, Travelers often sets the tone for industry earnings that will be announced by its peers in the coming weeks. Analysts watch closely how it is maneuvering through a competitive price environment while low interest rates continue to put pressure on...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
Click here to read the Court Decision In Re: Johns-Manville Corporation et al, decided 7/22/2014
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Public Policy and Multi-Jurisdictional Claims
A NJ appellate court has ruled that public policy favors litigation in the State of New Jersey were there exists a dispute over multi-jurisdictional choice of law issues governing workers’ compensation insurance coverage in NJ.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Asbestos Judgement Final: Second Circuit confirms asbestos judgment against Travelers
| Congratuations to Motley Rice for successfully concluding a long and arduous fight on behalf of asbestos victims. U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT CONFIRMS ASBESTOS JUDGMENT AGAINST TRAVELERS MT. PLEASANT, SC – (January 5, 2015) – Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, by denying a request for rehearing and a rehearing en banc, confirmed that the Settlement Agreements Travelers agreed to in 2004 were binding and enforceable contracts between the parties, that all conditions had been satisfied, and that, in an attempt to avoid its obligation to thousands of asbestos victims, whatever Travelers’ “private hopes and dreams were,” they were not supported by the language of the agreement. “Travelers now has to finally live up to its commitment and provide rightful compensation to asbestos victims who waited more than a decade for this to be settled and done with,” says Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice. “We are gratified that perseverance by all involved has resulted in this positive, and now, final ruling.” Attorneys with Motley Rice LLC have played a central role in the litigation against Travelers for its alleged breach of duty to the injured asbestos victims for more than 20 years. This litigation was spearheaded out of the consolidated asbestos litigation in West Virginia State Court and then transferred... |
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Monday, August 3, 2009
Major Insurance Companies Still In A Downward Spiral
Two major insurance carriers have shown continued losses. AIG and Travelers are both facing difficult situations economic issues..
On Friday Moody's Investors Services downgraded two American International Group Inc. (AIG) lending united to near "junk" status. Other rating companies also lowered their ratings of AIG to Baa3.
This follows news last week that Travelers Insurance Company Inc.'s (Travelers) 2nd quarter income fell 21% which resulted in lower income and higher claims costs. Travelers is the second largest insurer after AIG. The revenue decrease at Travelers was reported to be 2.1% of $6.16 Billion.
As unemployment remains static or increases, fewer people are working, and premium revenues will continue to decline.
On Friday Moody's Investors Services downgraded two American International Group Inc. (AIG) lending united to near "junk" status. Other rating companies also lowered their ratings of AIG to Baa3.
This follows news last week that Travelers Insurance Company Inc.'s (Travelers) 2nd quarter income fell 21% which resulted in lower income and higher claims costs. Travelers is the second largest insurer after AIG. The revenue decrease at Travelers was reported to be 2.1% of $6.16 Billion.
As unemployment remains static or increases, fewer people are working, and premium revenues will continue to decline.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Chubb Permitted to Sue Travelers in Manville Asbestos Claim
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has held that Chubb was denied its due process in a claim flowing from the Manville bankruptcy that was filed in 1982. In a long and convoluted judicial history, Chubb was seeking reimbursement from Travelers, its insured, for lack of notice of a bankruptcy settlement years before. As a result of that settlement, to which Chubb was not a party, Chubb was sued by a new group of plaintiffs in 2004 as a result of Travelers malfeasance in the asbestos conspiracy.
While denying the asbestos personal injury claimants from seeking recovery, the Court allowed Chubb to proceed with its claim.
In re Johns-Manville Corp., --- F.3d ----, 2010 WL 1007832, C.A.2 (N.Y.),2010., March 22, 2010
While denying the asbestos personal injury claimants from seeking recovery, the Court allowed Chubb to proceed with its claim.
"We further hold that Chubb was not adequately represented in the proceedings that lead to the bankruptcy court's approval of the 1984 Insurance Settlement Agreement and the Manville Plan, and that it did not receive adequate notice of the 1986 Orders. Accordingly, both the bankruptcy court and the district court erred by rejecting Chubb's due process argument. Chubb is therefore not bound by the terms of the 1986 Orders. Consequently, it may attack the Orders collaterally as jurisdictionally void. And, as we held in Manville III, that attack is meritorious."
In re Johns-Manville Corp., --- F.3d ----, 2010 WL 1007832, C.A.2 (N.Y.),2010., March 22, 2010
Monday, October 31, 2022
Judge Erred in Finding a Conflict in Representation
Ameribuilt Contractors appealed the workers' compensation judge's February 1, 2022 order rejecting a proposed settlement and disqualifying its assigned insurance counsel, Brown & Connery, LLP (B&C), on the basis of a perceived conflict between Ameribuilt's workers' compensation carrier, Travelers Property Casualty Insurance Co. (Travelers), and Travelers' ostensible insured, respondent Robert Alam. The court concluded that the judge erred in finding that a conflict existed and, thus, there was no basis for the disqualification. Accordingly, the court is constrained to reverse.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
CDC Issues Revised Interim U.S. Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Potential Ebola Virus Exposure
CDC Issues Revised Interim U.S. Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Potential Ebola Virus Exposure
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued today revised Interim U.S. Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Ebola Virus Exposure. This guidance (hyperlink to the guidance here) provides new information public health authorities and other partners can use to determine appropriate public health actions based on Ebola exposure risk factors and clinical presentation. It also includes criteria for monitoring exposed people and for when movement restrictions may be needed.
In determining the right approach, we have put the health and safety of Americans first and foremost, and our deliberations have been informed by our most knowledgeable and experienced public health and homeland security professionals. As with everything we have done to respond to the threat of Ebola both at home and abroad, we have been guided by the best science available.
Coordinated public health actions are essential to stop and reverse the spread of Ebola virus. CDC announced last week that public health authorities will begin active post-arrival monitoring of travelers whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea and arrive at one of the five airports in the United States doing enhanced screening. The revised interim guidance released today is intended to guide state and local health officials with decisions about managing the movement of individuals being monitored, including travelers from the countries with widespread transmission and others who may have been exposed in the United States.
Active post-arrival monitoring means that travelers without febrile illness or symptoms consistent with Ebola will be contacted daily by state and local health departments for 21 days from the date of their departure from Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea. Six states (New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Georgia), where approximately 70% of incoming travelers are headed, will start active monitoring today, with the remainder of the states starting in the days following.
This guidance also outlines appropriate public health actions for those individuals classified as “some risk.” These include health care workers who are providing direct care to Ebola patients in West Africa or others, such as observers, who enter an Ebola treatment area where Ebola patients are being cared for. Additional precautions, such as direct active monitoring, are recommended for those classified as “some risk.” In addition, the guidance recommends public health authorities determine on an individualized case-by-case basis whether additional restrictions, such as controlled movement, workplace exclusions, or restrictions on other activities, are appropriate. This daily health consultation will give additional confidence to the community that a returning health care worker is asymptomatic and therefore not contagious.
Returning health care workers should be treated with dignity and respect. They, along with our civilian and military personnel in the region, are working tirelessly on the frontlines against Ebola, and their success is what ultimately will enable us to eliminate the threat of additional domestic Ebola cases. We must not prevent or unduly discourage them from undertaking this indispensable and selfless work.
Guidance for returning health care workers from West Africa should be distinguished from health care workers providing care for Ebola patients in the United States. There are important differences between providing care or performing public health tasks in Africa versus in a U.S. hospital. A U.S. hospital provides a more controlled setting than a field hospital in West Africa. A U.S. healthcare worker would be able to anticipate most procedures that would put them at risk of exposure and wear additional personal protective equipment as recommended. In some places in Africa, the same may not be true and workers may not have the ability to prepare for potential exposures.
This guidance is interim guidance and could be updated or changed as new information becomes available.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued today revised Interim U.S. Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Ebola Virus Exposure. This guidance (hyperlink to the guidance here) provides new information public health authorities and other partners can use to determine appropriate public health actions based on Ebola exposure risk factors and clinical presentation. It also includes criteria for monitoring exposed people and for when movement restrictions may be needed.
In determining the right approach, we have put the health and safety of Americans first and foremost, and our deliberations have been informed by our most knowledgeable and experienced public health and homeland security professionals. As with everything we have done to respond to the threat of Ebola both at home and abroad, we have been guided by the best science available.
Coordinated public health actions are essential to stop and reverse the spread of Ebola virus. CDC announced last week that public health authorities will begin active post-arrival monitoring of travelers whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea and arrive at one of the five airports in the United States doing enhanced screening. The revised interim guidance released today is intended to guide state and local health officials with decisions about managing the movement of individuals being monitored, including travelers from the countries with widespread transmission and others who may have been exposed in the United States.
Active post-arrival monitoring means that travelers without febrile illness or symptoms consistent with Ebola will be contacted daily by state and local health departments for 21 days from the date of their departure from Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea. Six states (New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Georgia), where approximately 70% of incoming travelers are headed, will start active monitoring today, with the remainder of the states starting in the days following.
This guidance also outlines appropriate public health actions for those individuals classified as “some risk.” These include health care workers who are providing direct care to Ebola patients in West Africa or others, such as observers, who enter an Ebola treatment area where Ebola patients are being cared for. Additional precautions, such as direct active monitoring, are recommended for those classified as “some risk.” In addition, the guidance recommends public health authorities determine on an individualized case-by-case basis whether additional restrictions, such as controlled movement, workplace exclusions, or restrictions on other activities, are appropriate. This daily health consultation will give additional confidence to the community that a returning health care worker is asymptomatic and therefore not contagious.
Returning health care workers should be treated with dignity and respect. They, along with our civilian and military personnel in the region, are working tirelessly on the frontlines against Ebola, and their success is what ultimately will enable us to eliminate the threat of additional domestic Ebola cases. We must not prevent or unduly discourage them from undertaking this indispensable and selfless work.
Guidance for returning health care workers from West Africa should be distinguished from health care workers providing care for Ebola patients in the United States. There are important differences between providing care or performing public health tasks in Africa versus in a U.S. hospital. A U.S. hospital provides a more controlled setting than a field hospital in West Africa. A U.S. healthcare worker would be able to anticipate most procedures that would put them at risk of exposure and wear additional personal protective equipment as recommended. In some places in Africa, the same may not be true and workers may not have the ability to prepare for potential exposures.
This guidance is interim guidance and could be updated or changed as new information becomes available.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Travelers Insurance Lobbies Congress With $1.66 Million
The Associated Press reports today that, "Insurer Travelers Cos. spent $1.66 million in the fourth quarter to lobby the federal government on global warming issues, workers compensation, consumer protection rights and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report." Travelers "also lobbied on issues including the National Insurance Consumer Protection Act, coastal wind zone proposals, bankruptcy issues and asbestos-related legislation."
To read more about Travelers Insurance Company and workers' compensation click here.
To read more about Travelers Insurance Company and workers' compensation click here.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
US DOT Bill of Rights for Passengers with Disabilities
In its ongoing work to protect airline passengers, USDOT moves forward with pro-consumer actions.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Frustration building over lack of details on N.J. Ebola plan
Today's post is shared from northjersey.com/
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
| Governor Christie is forcefully defending New Jersey’s mandatory quarantine policy for travelers or health workers who have come in contact with Ebola patients in West Africa, saying other states, the military and even a Nobel laureate are on his side, as a fierce national debate has ensued over how to best protect Americans from the disease. Yet four days after he and the governor of New York announced the 21-day quarantine for high-risk travelers, neither Christie nor state health officials have offered details about how this will be accomplished. If people are quarantined at home, can their families stay with them and still go out? If they are alone at home, is someone going to bring them food? What about high-risk travelers who are passing through the airport in Newark — should they be allowed to continue to their destination? Those and many other questions remain unanswered — Christie officials said specifics about how the mandate will be enforced are “internal documents” and are not public. What’s more, some of the agencies that are supposed to be enforcing the plan say they are uncertain about protocols because no policies have been presented. There is growing frustration, officials said. The Port Authority, for... |
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Court of Compensation Does Not Have Jurisdiction for Restitution
A Court of Compensation is not the place for an insurance carrier to seek reimbursement from a responsible entity if it has paid a judgment in error. The NJ Court of Appeals, in affirming a trial decision, ruled that a workers' compensation carrier who erroneously appeared and had entered into a settlement of a workers' compensation claim could not, after payment of the award, could not modify the award to have its name removed as the responsible party.
"Travelers, however, did not present sufficient cause to reopen the settlement to change the identity of the settling entity. If Travelers is entitled to reimbursement for a settlement it mistakenly entered into, it must seek such reimbursement from the liable entity in another court. As Travelers acknowledges, petitioner is not at blame nor should petitioner be involved in litigation seeking to modify the settlement. Workers' Compensation Court is not the proper forum for litigation between two insurers after a judgment has been entered and payment of that judgment made to petitioner."
"Travelers, however, did not present sufficient cause to reopen the settlement to change the identity of the settling entity. If Travelers is entitled to reimbursement for a settlement it mistakenly entered into, it must seek such reimbursement from the liable entity in another court. As Travelers acknowledges, petitioner is not at blame nor should petitioner be involved in litigation seeking to modify the settlement. Workers' Compensation Court is not the proper forum for litigation between two insurers after a judgment has been entered and payment of that judgment made to petitioner."
Not Reported in A.3d, 2014 WL 2807529 (N.J.Super.A.D.)
Related articles
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
US Supreme Court to Review Manville Asbestos Bankruptcy Order
The US Supreme Court has decided to review a decision interpreting a 1986 Bankruptcy confirmation plan order. The order formed the basis of a settlement by Travelers Insurance Company to resolve claims against it for conspiracy in concealing information about the dangers of asbestos.
In 1986, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Lifland,J.) confirmed a landmark plan of reorganization for Johns¬-Manville Corporation that channeled hundreds of thousands of asbestos-related personal injury claims into a special trust fund for the benefit of injured workers and their families. The linchpin of this reorganization was the contribution of tens of millions of dollars Petitioners and other insurers into a trust for payment of asbestos claims in exchange for protection from future claims against the insurers, all of which was intended to provide Petitioners with full and final protection from suits relating to, arising from or in connection with the Petitioners' insurance relationship with Johns¬Manville. The Manville confirmation order was affirmed in a final judgment rendered by the Second Circuit in 1988.
The confirmation order in Manville was subsequently ratified by the U.S. Congress (see 11 U.S.C. 524(h)) and used as a model for Section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code. In the decades following the entry of the final judgment affirming the Manville plan of reorganization, and in reliance on the protections enacted by Congress, of billions of dollars have been paid into "524(g) trusts" for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of asbestos claimants. In 2002, Petitioners sought to enforce the court's orders when certain asbestos claimants tried to evade the confirmation order by suing Travelers directly in so-called "direct actions." The suits were enjoined by the bankruptcy court that fashioned the Manville plan of reorganization, which held that they were proscribed by the 1986 confirmation order. The bankruptcy court's decision was affirmed by the District Court, but in February over two decades after the original orders became final, a different panel of the Second Circuit held that the bankruptcy court lacked authority in 1986 to enter confirmation order that extended beyond the "res" of the debtor's estate, i.e., insurance policy proceeds.
The question presented, therefore, is: Whether the court of appeals erred in categorically holding that bankruptcy courts do not have jurisdiction to enter confirmation orders that extend beyond the "res" of a debtor's estate, despite this Court's recent ruling that "[t]he Framers would have understood that laws 'on the subject of Bankruptcies' included laws providing, in certain respects, for more than simple adjudications of rights in the res," Central Virginia Community College v. Katz, 546 U.S. 356, 370 (2006), and whether the court of appeals compounded error by:
(a) failing to apply as written a federal statute (11 USC §§ 524(g) and (h)), by limiting the scope of relief in a manner that is contrary to the express terms andpurposes of that statute;
(b) failing to give effect to the Supremacy Clause and holdings of this Court that federal bankruptcy relief cannot be overridden by rights alleged to have beencreated under state law; and
(c) failing to respect important principles of finality and repose, and the express provisions of § 524(g), by failing to approve a federal court's enforcement of a confirmation order that was affirmed over two decades ago on direct appeal.
08-295 TRAVELERS INDEMNITY CO. V. BAILEY, DECISION BELOW:517 F.3d 52
In 1986, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Lifland,J.) confirmed a landmark plan of reorganization for Johns¬-Manville Corporation that channeled hundreds of thousands of asbestos-related personal injury claims into a special trust fund for the benefit of injured workers and their families. The linchpin of this reorganization was the contribution of tens of millions of dollars Petitioners and other insurers into a trust for payment of asbestos claims in exchange for protection from future claims against the insurers, all of which was intended to provide Petitioners with full and final protection from suits relating to, arising from or in connection with the Petitioners' insurance relationship with Johns¬Manville. The Manville confirmation order was affirmed in a final judgment rendered by the Second Circuit in 1988.
The confirmation order in Manville was subsequently ratified by the U.S. Congress (see 11 U.S.C. 524(h)) and used as a model for Section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code. In the decades following the entry of the final judgment affirming the Manville plan of reorganization, and in reliance on the protections enacted by Congress, of billions of dollars have been paid into "524(g) trusts" for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of asbestos claimants. In 2002, Petitioners sought to enforce the court's orders when certain asbestos claimants tried to evade the confirmation order by suing Travelers directly in so-called "direct actions." The suits were enjoined by the bankruptcy court that fashioned the Manville plan of reorganization, which held that they were proscribed by the 1986 confirmation order. The bankruptcy court's decision was affirmed by the District Court, but in February over two decades after the original orders became final, a different panel of the Second Circuit held that the bankruptcy court lacked authority in 1986 to enter confirmation order that extended beyond the "res" of the debtor's estate, i.e., insurance policy proceeds.
The question presented, therefore, is: Whether the court of appeals erred in categorically holding that bankruptcy courts do not have jurisdiction to enter confirmation orders that extend beyond the "res" of a debtor's estate, despite this Court's recent ruling that "[t]he Framers would have understood that laws 'on the subject of Bankruptcies' included laws providing, in certain respects, for more than simple adjudications of rights in the res," Central Virginia Community College v. Katz, 546 U.S. 356, 370 (2006), and whether the court of appeals compounded error by:
(a) failing to apply as written a federal statute (11 USC §§ 524(g) and (h)), by limiting the scope of relief in a manner that is contrary to the express terms andpurposes of that statute;
(b) failing to give effect to the Supremacy Clause and holdings of this Court that federal bankruptcy relief cannot be overridden by rights alleged to have beencreated under state law; and
(c) failing to respect important principles of finality and repose, and the express provisions of § 524(g), by failing to approve a federal court's enforcement of a confirmation order that was affirmed over two decades ago on direct appeal.
08-295 TRAVELERS INDEMNITY CO. V. BAILEY, DECISION BELOW:517 F.3d 52
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Federal Preemption of State Medical Billing Schedules
Medical benefits are a significant factor in the overall costs of of most state workers compensation programs. The ability to contain those costs is at the very heart of the viability of most workers’ compensation systems. Federal preemption of state medical fee schedules and regulations are a prevailing challenge to the patchwork of non-uniform state benefit programs.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Workers' Compensation News - July 10, 2007, Vol. 5 Issue 107
Workers' Compensation News - July 10, 2007, Vol. 5 Issue 107
FLORIDA EXPANDS INTENTIONAL TORT EXCEPTION Employee's injury was substantial certainty from employer's failure to respond to requests for new ladder did not require proof that employer concealed danger. "Even though case law on the intentional tort exception to workers' compensation immunity is devoid of any defined test that will establish substantial certainty as a matter of law, it is evident that concealment of the dangerous condition is only one of several factors in a nonexclusive list. " Bakerman v The Bombay Company, ___So. 2d____, 2007 WL 1774420 (Fla.), decided June 21, 1007
OSHA ORDERED TO RELEASE TOXIC EXPOSURE DATABASE — More than 25 Years of Workplace Sampling Yields Public Health Research Bonanza Washington, DC — The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has wrongfully withheld data documenting years of toxic exposures to workers and its own inspectors, according to a federal court ruling posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, the world’s largest compendium of measurements of occupational exposures to toxic substances - more than 2 million analyses conducted during some 75,000 OSHA workplace inspections since 1979 - should now be available to researchers and policymakers. Each year, an estimated 40,000 U.S. workers die prematurely because of exposures to toxic substances on the job. Press Release: http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=882 Decision: http://www.peer.org/docs/dol/07_02_07_finkel_foia_ruling.pdf
ASBESTOS: Travelers Settles AC&S Claims The Travelers Cos. Inc. said today it has settled litigation with ACandS Inc., a former distributor and installer of asbestos products, for $449 million.http://www.courant.com/business/hc-trav-litig,0,1651056.story
ASBESTOS: NO SAFE LEVEL OF EXPOSURE Cong. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) held a hearing on June 25 on the federal government’s response to the hazardous air contaminants that polluted lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks. The featured witness was former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who was in the hot seat for her claims that the air in NYC was safe to breathe. Much less attention was paid to former OSHA assistant secretary John Henshaw, who sat next to Whitman, but was left largely unscathed by the questioning. At least one Henshaw exchange deserves attention. The former OSHA chief insisted there are “safe levels of exposure to asbestos.” FYI: The WHO’s policy statement on the elimination of asbestos-related disease is here and the Institute of Medicine’s report on Asbestos: Selected Cancers (2007) is here. http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/safe-levels-of-asbestos-by-john-henshaw/
............................
SUBSCRIPTION CHANGES
he workers' compensation mailing list is an informal means to periodically broadcast passive electronic messages to a large group of professionals with interest in workers' compensation law. It is distributed without charge to stimulate academic interest in various topics including case law, statutory law, administrative memorandum, proposed regulations and other various issues.
Subscription changes:
http://www.gelmans.com/FrontEnd/Email/join.asp
Past issues of Workers' Compensation News are archived & search-able in the Reading Room under "Mail Archives" http://www.gelmans.com/
Jon L. Gelman, Attorney at Law
1450 Valley Rd 1st fl,
PO Box 934,
Wayne NJ 07474-0934
Voice: (973)696-7900 / Fax: (973)696-7988 / e-mail: mailto:jon@gelmans.com
http://www.gelmans.com/
Author: Workers' Compensation Law (Thomson/West)
To purchase call: call 1-800-344-5008-Print: http://west.thomson.com/product/17152728/product.asp-Westlaw: http://www.westlaw.com/ (search under database NJPRAC)-CD-Rom.
FLORIDA EXPANDS INTENTIONAL TORT EXCEPTION Employee's injury was substantial certainty from employer's failure to respond to requests for new ladder did not require proof that employer concealed danger. "Even though case law on the intentional tort exception to workers' compensation immunity is devoid of any defined test that will establish substantial certainty as a matter of law, it is evident that concealment of the dangerous condition is only one of several factors in a nonexclusive list. " Bakerman v The Bombay Company, ___So. 2d____, 2007 WL 1774420 (Fla.), decided June 21, 1007
OSHA ORDERED TO RELEASE TOXIC EXPOSURE DATABASE — More than 25 Years of Workplace Sampling Yields Public Health Research Bonanza Washington, DC — The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has wrongfully withheld data documenting years of toxic exposures to workers and its own inspectors, according to a federal court ruling posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, the world’s largest compendium of measurements of occupational exposures to toxic substances - more than 2 million analyses conducted during some 75,000 OSHA workplace inspections since 1979 - should now be available to researchers and policymakers. Each year, an estimated 40,000 U.S. workers die prematurely because of exposures to toxic substances on the job. Press Release: http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=882 Decision: http://www.peer.org/docs/dol/07_02_07_finkel_foia_ruling.pdf
ASBESTOS: Travelers Settles AC&S Claims The Travelers Cos. Inc. said today it has settled litigation with ACandS Inc., a former distributor and installer of asbestos products, for $449 million.http://www.courant.com/business/hc-trav-litig,0,1651056.story
ASBESTOS: NO SAFE LEVEL OF EXPOSURE Cong. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) held a hearing on June 25 on the federal government’s response to the hazardous air contaminants that polluted lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks. The featured witness was former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who was in the hot seat for her claims that the air in NYC was safe to breathe. Much less attention was paid to former OSHA assistant secretary John Henshaw, who sat next to Whitman, but was left largely unscathed by the questioning. At least one Henshaw exchange deserves attention. The former OSHA chief insisted there are “safe levels of exposure to asbestos.” FYI: The WHO’s policy statement on the elimination of asbestos-related disease is here and the Institute of Medicine’s report on Asbestos: Selected Cancers (2007) is here. http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/safe-levels-of-asbestos-by-john-henshaw/
............................
SUBSCRIPTION CHANGES
he workers' compensation mailing list is an informal means to periodically broadcast passive electronic messages to a large group of professionals with interest in workers' compensation law. It is distributed without charge to stimulate academic interest in various topics including case law, statutory law, administrative memorandum, proposed regulations and other various issues.
Subscription changes:
http://www.gelmans.com/FrontEnd/Email/join.asp
Past issues of Workers' Compensation News are archived & search-able in the Reading Room under "Mail Archives" http://www.gelmans.com/
Jon L. Gelman, Attorney at Law
1450 Valley Rd 1st fl,
PO Box 934,
Wayne NJ 07474-0934
Voice: (973)696-7900 / Fax: (973)696-7988 / e-mail: mailto:jon@gelmans.com
http://www.gelmans.com/
Author: Workers' Compensation Law (Thomson/West)
To purchase call: call 1-800-344-5008-Print: http://west.thomson.com/product/17152728/product.asp-Westlaw: http://www.westlaw.com/ (search under database NJPRAC)-CD-Rom.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Friday, April 30, 2021
NJ Governor Murphy Signs the Healthy Terminals Act
NJ Governor Phil Murphy today signed the Healthy Terminals Act (S989) which creates new minimum wage and benefits requirements for certain Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Newark Liberty International Train Station workers. The legislation will expand access to livable wages and affordable health care for workers at the airport and train station who often cannot afford employer-provided health care plans.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
US Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Manville Asbestos Bankruptcy Plan
The US Supreme Court once again hear oral argument in a claim arising out of "the longest running tort" in the nation's history, asbestos litigation. The case played to a full house as the Court revisited the 1986 Johns Manville Bankruptcy program and questioned whether the the process that paid out more than $2.8 Billion could be challenged yet again. Plaintiff lawyers, not party to a settlement mediated by former NY Governor Mario Cuomo, argued that they should be allowed to sue various insurers including Travelers Insurance Company.
Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Bailey
Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Bailey
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Violence in the Workplace: Chicago Air Traffic Control
Today's post is shared from nytimes.com
Travelers lined up Friday to reschedule flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after the region's air traffic control was sabotaged. More flights are resuming Saturday, but hundreds were also canceled.
The number of canceled flights in and out of Chicago crept toward 800 Saturday afternoon, as workers tried to restore one of the nation's busiest air traffic control systems. The system was crippled Friday, officials say, after a disgruntled employee set a fire in a federal radar center. (We updated the number of cancellations at 5 p.m. ET).
As we reported Friday, nearly 2,000 flights were canceled or delayed at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports, throwing travelers' plans into chaos and disrupting flights that use the area as a hub. Today, flight-tracking websites show a few steady streams of air traffic in and out of Chicago — but the volume doesn't approach the area's normal swarm of activity.
Officials say the disruption was caused by a fire that forced the evacuation of a nearby federal air traffic control center and the declaration of a rare "ATC Zero" status — "shorthand for the inability to safely provide air traffic control," reports Air Transport World.
New details emerged late Friday about the suspect in the case, Brian Howard, 36, after the FBI filed a preliminary criminal complaint in federal court. It accuses Howard of sending a note to a relative Friday morning in which he bid them farewell and said he was taking down...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
Travelers lined up Friday to reschedule flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after the region's air traffic control was sabotaged. More flights are resuming Saturday, but hundreds were also canceled.
The number of canceled flights in and out of Chicago crept toward 800 Saturday afternoon, as workers tried to restore one of the nation's busiest air traffic control systems. The system was crippled Friday, officials say, after a disgruntled employee set a fire in a federal radar center. (We updated the number of cancellations at 5 p.m. ET).
As we reported Friday, nearly 2,000 flights were canceled or delayed at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports, throwing travelers' plans into chaos and disrupting flights that use the area as a hub. Today, flight-tracking websites show a few steady streams of air traffic in and out of Chicago — but the volume doesn't approach the area's normal swarm of activity.
Officials say the disruption was caused by a fire that forced the evacuation of a nearby federal air traffic control center and the declaration of a rare "ATC Zero" status — "shorthand for the inability to safely provide air traffic control," reports Air Transport World.
New details emerged late Friday about the suspect in the case, Brian Howard, 36, after the FBI filed a preliminary criminal complaint in federal court. It accuses Howard of sending a note to a relative Friday morning in which he bid them farewell and said he was taking down...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Employers Prohibited From Seeking Reimbursement From a Public Entity
A New Jersey appeals court has held that an employer or insurance carrier is prohibited from seeking reimbursement from a public entity resulting from a work related claim. Only a direct action may be brought by an employee against a public entity.
"Relying on Travelers, supra, 169 N.J.Super. at 415, Judge Casale held that where, as here, a public entity is the third-party tortfeasor, the Tort Claims Act (TCA), N.J.S.A. 59:9-2(e), bars subrogation by the employer or its worker's compensation carrier. That section provides: "No insurer or other person shall be entitled to bring an action under a subrogation provision in an insurance contract against a public entity or public employee." Ibid.
"It is clear that N.J.S.A. 34:15- 40 not only permits subrogation recovery from the employee, but would allow a lawsuit directly against the third-party tortfeasor. N.J.S.A. 34:15-40(f). However, in enacting the TCA, N.J.S.A. 59:9-2(e), the Legislature intended that the cost of worker's compensation payments should not be shifted to a public entity that happened to be a third-party tortfeasor. Instead, those costs were to be absorbed by the worker's compensation insurer. Travelers, supra, 169 N.J.Super. at 415.Thomas v The City of East Orange, Docket No. L-6929-09, 2011 WL 2582550 (N.J.Super.A.D.) Decided July 1, 2011.
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
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