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Insurance Recovery Legal Associates Achieves a Favorable MA Appeals Court Decision Impacting Runoff Second Injury Fund & COLA Recovery Cases in Arrowood Indemnity Company vs. Workers Compensation Trust Fund
Insurance Recovery Legal Associates, LLC (IRLA, formerly Uehlein & Associates, LLC) recently received a favorable decision from the Massachusetts Appeals Court in Arrowood Indemnity Company vs. Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund, expanding which insurers are able to recover Second Injury Fund and COLA reimbursements from the Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund. As a result of IRLA’s and appellate counsel’s efforts, insurers that are no longer transmitting assessments to the Fund are now eligible to receive recoveries. IRLA, Insurance Recovery Group, Inc.’s captive law firm, aggressively pursued this outcome for the past several years, addressing what we felt was an incorrect interpretation and application by the Trust Fund. This result is not only positive, but a major win for MA SIF and COLA WC insurers moving forward.

The Long Road to The Win
In 2015, the Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund started to deny claims for Second Injury Fund and COLA reimbursement from insurers that were in runoff and therefore were no longer paying assessments to the Fund. These denials were based on an Appeals Court decision which held that insurers in runoff were not entitled to reimbursement as they were not participating in the assessment system, which was a prerequisite to recovery. Insurance Recovery Legal Associates, LLC (IRLA) brought two separate enforcement actions in Superior Court for claims not being paid, which were both denied, and the denials affirmed by the Appeals Court.

Ever persistent, IRLA once again filed a claim for enforcement at the Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) in the current Arrowood case. The claim initially went through the litigation process at the DIA with the reviewing board finding, as in the earlier cases, that the insurer was not entitled to reimbursement.
Appellate counsel brought this matter to Appeals Court, and the current Appeals Court panel appreciated IRLA’s position, that since employers pay assessments, and the insurers merely transmit them to the Fund, insurers in runoff should still be eligible to participate. The result was a successful Appeals Court Decision, a major win for insurers, made possible by the efforts of IRLA.

As a leader in obtaining Second Injury Fund recoveries in Massachusetts, Insurance Recovery Group, Inc. is available to assist you in obtaining recovery on all your Second Injury Fund cases, including newly available opportunities due to this decision. Please reach out to Attorney Dorothy Linsner (dlinsner@irgfocus.com) or Attorney Arthur Gavrilles (agavrilles@irgfocus.com) if you have any questions about this decision or other Second Injury Fund and COLA needs.

Insurance Recovery Group, Inc./ Insurance Recovery Legal Associates, LLC