The National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. said it has filed for an 8.9 percent rate increase in Florida workers' compensation insurance rates to account for an expected jump in legal costs since the State Supreme Court ruling giving judges greater leeway in awarding attorneys' fees.

Submitted Friday, the NCCI's filing calls for the 8.9 percent rate increase to take effect March 1. NCCI had already made an earlier filing, which called for an 18.1 percent rate reduction, set to take effect on the first of January.

The Supreme Court action precipitating the increase rate filing came in the case of Emma Murray vs. Mariner Health Inc. and ACE USA. It was released when the initial filing was submitted. But, an NCCI official said at that point the organization did not have enough time to gauge the impact of the decision on rates within the timeframe necessary for a Jan. 1 effective date, and that a separate filing would be made.

"NCCI estimates that the full impact of Emma Murray will be an increase in overall Florida workers compensation system costs of 18.6 percent" NCCI said in announcing the new filing. It added that it estimated a two-year period for the impact to be fully felt, "and therefore proposes a first year increase of half of the full impact."

In the Murray case, the state Supreme Court ruled that a formula adopted by state lawmakers in 2003 to determine attorney's fees awards could conflict with earlier state law guaranteeing "reasonable" fee awards.

Specifically, under the fee schedule Ms. Murray's lawyers would have been due a total of $684.84 for their work on the case, which averaged out to $8.11 an hour for an estimated 80 hours of work. The court ruled instead that they should be paid at roughly the market rate for such work, which was said to be $200 per hour, and awarded the plaintiff's attorneys a total of $16,000. That amount was almost five times the amount awarded to Ms. Murray.

Having been submitted, the filing now is subject to the standard rate review process, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

"Just as it does every filing it receives, the Office will carefully review the NCCI's filing to determine if it contains proper support for the rate change being requested in light of the Murray decision," said OIR spokesman Edward Domansky.

A public hearing on the filing, he added is "tentatively scheduled for Dec. 16."

Special Reports /

Fla. Court Ruling Spurs Comp Rate Hike Request

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