Copyright

(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

We are moving....January 1, 2009

JON L GELMAN LLC
Attorney at Law
1700 State Route 23 North Suite 120
Wayne, NJ 07470-7537
Phone:(973) 696-7900
Fax: (973) 696-7988
e-mail: jon@gelmans.com
Internet: http://www.gelmans.com/

DIRECTIONS TO OUR OFFICE
Directions by Google Maps – Click Here

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117809746258182341884.00045ee92aef6c660fa07&ll=40.942256,-74.27011&spn=0.024086,0.038452&z=15

FROM ROUTE 23 NORTHBOUND:
At RT 23/I-80/RT 46 junction proceed north on RT 23 past two traffic lights (3.5) miles. Immediately after the 2nd traffic light, turn right into 1700 Route 23 North (Oak Hill Park), bear left to 1700 building.

FROM ROUTE 23 SOUTHBOUND:
1. Proceed past Ratzer Road exit in Wayne. 2. Proceed (0.6 miles south) past Fuddruckers on right and turn right to make a U-turn to go northbound. 3. Stay in right lane and cross straight over Rt 23 into 1700 Route 23 North (Oak Hill Park), bear left to 1700 building.

FROM ROUTE 46 WESTBOUND:
1 . Exit Route 46 at Route 23 North exit (bear right) just (0.5 miles) past the Fountains of Wayne on right.
2. Proceed north on RT 23 past two traffic lights (3.5) miles. Immediately after the 2nd traffic light, turn right into 1700 Route 23 North (Oak Hill Park), bear left to 1700 building.

FROM ROUTE 46 EASTBOUND:
Exit just past Willowbrook Mall in Wayne & bear left for State Hwy 23 N toward Butler (0.8 mile). Merge onto RT-23 N (0.8 mile). Then follow directions FROM ROUTE 23 Northbound above.

FROM ROUTE 80 WESTBOUND: EXIT #53, for State Hwy 23 N toward Butler (0.8 mile). Merge onto RT-23 N (0.8 mile). Then follow directions FROM ROUTE 46 Westbound above.

FROM ROUTE 80 EASTBOUND:
Take Exit 54 for Minnisink Rd toward Totowa/Little Falls. Turn LEFT at Minnisink Road (signs for Totowa) (0.1 miles). Turn left at Vreeland Ave (459 feet). Turn left to merge onto I-80 W (0.8 miles). The follow directions FROM ROUTE 80 Westbound above.

FROM ROUTE 287 NORTHBOUND or SOUTHBOUND:
Take Exit 48 toward Lincoln Park (0.2 miles). Turn left at Main Rd/US-202 (1.6 miles). Turn left at Main Rd/US-202/White Hall Rd. Continue to follow Main Rd (1.8 miles). Slight right at Boonton Turnpike/US-202. Continue to follow US-202 (2.5 miles). Take the ramp onto RT-23/US-202 N (2.1 miles). Slight right into 1700 Route 23 North (Oak Hill Park) (495 ft), bear left to 1700 building.

FROM GARDEN STATE PARKWAY SOUTHBOUND:
Take exit 159 to merge onto I-80 W. Then follow directions FROM ROUTE 80 Westbound above.

FROM GARDEN STATE PARKWAY NORTHBOUND:
Take exit 153 on the Left onto Rt 3 WEST, which will merge onto RT 46 West. Then follow directions FROM ROUTE 46 Westbound above.



Tuesday, December 23, 2008

CMS Regional Centers for Workers' Compensation Matters

CMS announces publishes State contact list for Workers'  Compensation matters. I its guide CMS has directed contact to 6 regional centers for all states and territories.

The contact list is now available on line.



Seeking a Waiver of CMS/MSP Overpayment Request

A formal process exits to obtain a waiver of an Overpayment Recovery request from The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS]. If SSA advises you or your client that it has made an overpayment, ie. Medicare Secondary Payer Act [MSP] recovery request, then a waiver request maybe made. This is not to be confused with a Request for Reconsideration which should be used where the amount is disputed.

If you or your client agrees that the number is correct and the beneficiary is unable to make repayment, then a Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery should be filed. The form is 8 pages in length and requires the submission of a reason for the request including no fault of the beneficiary or unfairness of the request.

A financial statement is required to be submitted to CMS which requests information concerning: current rent; mortgage payments; pay stubs; tax returns; utility, medical, charge cards and insurance bills; cancelled checks; spouse and dependent(s) financial information.



Friday, December 19, 2008

CMS Publishes WCMSA Operating Rules

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has now published a copy of its Operating Rules regarding the evaluation of set-aside proposals. CMS cited that distribution of this material may reduce review time by the agency.

The Operating Rules, an 11 page document, highlights the procedures to be utilized by CMS. They instruct CMS on how to respond to telephone quires including specific instructions such as, "Do not give recommended amounts or expected completion dates." The Rules also instruct CMS contractor to consider the Total Settlement Amount (TSA) if the claimant has multiple workers' compensation cases and suggest one Recommended MSA (RMSA). Therefore "apportioning" multiple claims into a series of cases below the threshold level will not avoid CMS scrutiny. Also legal malpractice awards based on the mishandling of the workers' compensation claims are deemed not to be payments of compensation.

The Operating Rules were previously made available under a Freedom of Information Request in October 2008. The Operating Rules have been posted in redacted form and will be updated periodically by CMS.



Thursday, December 18, 2008

AIG: going, going,......?

AIG, a major workers' compensation carrier and reinsurer, is now facing another major economic loss amounting to $30 Billion, which may critically impact its ability to remain viable. In an exclusive report, Bloomberg, has reported that AIG, previously rescued by the Federal government in a $60 Billion infusion of dollars to offset troubled credit default swaps, is now facing additional losses.

Bloomberg reported, "...Wider losses may cast new doubt on whether the federal funds will be enough to prop up AIG, the biggest U.S. insurer by assets. The U.S. package almost doubled from the $85 billion approved in September to save the company from bankruptcy. Previous miscalculations about the swaps contributed to the ouster of Chief Executive Officer Robert Willumstad and his predecessor, Martin Sullivan. "

The huge insurance carrier, AIG, is considered to be a backbone of the workers' compensation insurance market and its financial instability, including insolvency, could critically shake the national patchwork of State programs. Earlier this year several State's issued statements that their insolvency funds would be a mechanism for relief should AIG fail. Declining State resources may place that solution also in jeopardy.



Wednesday, December 17, 2008

NJ Supreme Court Holds Electronic Insurance Policy Cancellations Invalid

In a sweeping, decision that may have impact on thousands of cases, the NJ Supreme ruled that an electronic cancellations of a workers’ compensation policies was not in compliance with the statute.

The Court ruled that the NJ Compensation, Rating and Insurance Bureau (CRIB) established a protocol called an FTP transfer to cancel policies by insurance carriers that was not in compliance with the law. NJ CRIB, the rate setting agency in NJ for workers’ compensation premiums, has been under investigative attack and legislative review. Recent legislation increased the governance to include some non-insurance affiliated members.

The NJ Supreme Court held, “…[that a] carrier does not satisfy N.J.S.A. 34:15-81 merely by transmitting electronic notice of cancellation of coverage to the Commissioner by way of the FTP. The statute clearly requires that to effectuate the cancellation, carrier also must file a statement certified by an employee that the required notice was provided to the insured.”

“In short, the Appellate Division correctly concluded that the use of the FTP system to transmit data about policy cancellations, without any accompanying certification, cannot be effective in light of the clear and unambiguous demands of N.J.S.A. 34:15-81(b).”

“… we have concluded that Sroczynski and any other party who previously raised the notice issue should be granted relief from the improper cancellations but that those cancellations that were never challenged should stand because the policyholders waived their right to do so.”

Walter Sroczynski v. John Milek (A-68/77-07) December 17, 2008

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