D.A.X., Inc. v. Employers Insurance of Wausau

659 N.E.2d 1150, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 9, 1996 WL 10751
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 12, 1996
Docket49A04-9410-CV-397
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 659 N.E.2d 1150 (D.A.X., Inc. v. Employers Insurance of Wausau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D.A.X., Inc. v. Employers Insurance of Wausau, 659 N.E.2d 1150, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 9, 1996 WL 10751 (Ind. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

DARDEN, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

D.A.X., Inc. appeals the trial court's judgment in favor of Employers Insurance of Wausau. We affirm.

ISSUES

I. Whether Wausau unconstitutionally impaired D.AX.'s contractual obligations.

II. Whether the trial court reformed the contract between D.AX. and Wau-sau.

Whether the trial court erred in concluding that because D.A.X. failed to pursue a mandatory administrative remedy, D.AX. is estopped to contest the use of the Illinois Rate. IIL.

FACTS

Employers Insurance of Wausau is an insurance company which is authorized to issue worker's compensation insurance in Indiana. D.AX., Inc. was an employee leasing company incorporated in Illinois with an office in Hammond, Indiana D.AX.'s employees, primarily truck drivers, were leased solely to High Noon Express, an Illinois trucking company with Interstate Commerce Commission interstate trucking authority. Both D.A.X. and High Noon Express were owned by the Autullo family.

The Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau is a statutorily created governmental agency which regulates worker's compensation insurance in Indiana. 1 See Ind.Code 27-7-2 et seq. An employer whose application for worker's compensation insurance has been rejected by three insurance companies in the open market can apply to the Bureau for assigned risk worker's compensation insurance. Ind.Code 277-2-28. The Bureau reviews the application to determine whether the risk should be assigned to a member of the Bureau. If the Bureau assigns the risk to one of its members, the insurer has a statutory duty to issue a policy to the applicant." Ind.Code 27-7-2-29(b).

On December 6, 1988, D.A.X., through its independent insurance agent, Russell Caw-thon, applied for assigned risk worker's compensation insurance through the Bureau. The assigned risk application required D.AX. to make a good faith estimate of the total payroll that it expected for the year. Based on that estimate, DAX. was to make a good faith estimate of its worker's compensation insurance annual premium. DAX. estimated its total annual payroll at $185,-000.00 and its worker's compensation premium at $7,277.00. D.A.X.'s application further stated that there were no "operations in States other than Indiana. 2 (R. 665).

The Bureau reviewed D.A.X.'s application, determined that it appeared facially acceptable, and assigned D.AX. to Wausau. 3 Pursuant to the Bureau's direction, Wausau issued D.AX. a worker's compensation policy which provided coverage from December 7, 1988 to December 7, 1989. The policy issued *1153 to D.A.X. provided in pertinent part as follows:

PART FIVE-PREMIUM
A. Our Manuals
All premium{s] for this policy will be determined by our manuals of rules, rates, rating plans and classifications. We may change our manuals and apply the changes to this policy if authorized by law or a governmental agency regulating this insurance.
B. Classifications
Item 4 of the Information Page shows the rate and premium basis for certain business or work classifications. These classifications were assigned based on an estimate of the exposures you would have during the policy period. If your actual exposures are not properly described by those classifications, we will assign proper classifications, rates and premium basis by endorsement of the policy....
E. Final Premium
The premium shown on the Information Page ... is an estimate. The final premium will be determined after this policy ends by using the actual, not the estimated premium basis and the proper classifications and rates that lawfully apply to the business and work covered by this policy. If the final premium is more than the premium you paid to us, you must pay us the balance....
F. Records
You will keep records of information needed to compute the premium. You will provide us with copies of those records when we ask for them.
G. Audit
You will let us examine and audit all your records that relate to this policy. These records include ledgers, journals, registers, vouchers, contracts, tax reports, payroll and disbursement records, and programs for storing and retrieving data. We may conduct the audit during the regular policy period and within three years after the policy period ends. Information developed by audit will be used to determine the final premium....

(R. 624).

In January 1989, the National Council of Compensation Insurance (NCCI) 4 promulgated an Extra-Territorial Auditing Procedure. This procedure, which the Bureau adopted, was included in a manual which the Bureau distributed to its members. The Bureau expected that its members, including Wausau, would use and apply this procedure, which provided as follows:

EXTRA-TERRITORIAL AUDITING PROCEDURE
B. Truckers
The payroll of drivers, chauffeurs and helpers for truckers shall be assigned to the state in which the base terminal from which they load, unload store or transfer freight on a regular basis is located.
EXAMPLE: A trucker resides in State A. His base terminal is in State B. If the driver travels regularly to the base terminal in State B to load or unload freight, the trucker's payroll shall be assigned to State B.
When the driver, chauffeur or helper does not operate from a "base terminal" a determination shall be made as to where the exposure lies. In that case, Payroll shall be assigned as follows:
1. If it can be established that a trucker spends a majority of driving time in a specific state, the trucker's payroll shall be assigned to that state.
2. If base terminal or state of majority driving time cannot be established and a trucker is traveling from his state of residence, payroll shall be assigned to state of residence.
For purposes of these procedures the following definitions shall apply:
Base Terminal: A permanent location with central loading docks and/or storage facili *1154 ties where a trucker regularly goes to load, unload, store or transfer freight.
State of Residence: The state in which the trucker resides as evidenced by the location used for the filing of federal income taxes.
Regular: A pattern of 40 hours per week or any other pattern that appears on a continuing basis.

(R. 677).

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Bluebook (online)
659 N.E.2d 1150, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 9, 1996 WL 10751, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dax-inc-v-employers-insurance-of-wausau-indctapp-1996.