Employers Reinsurance Corp. v. Kansas Commissioner of Insurance

21 P.3d 505, 271 Kan. 253, 2001 Kan. LEXIS 263
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedApril 20, 2001
DocketNo. 85,110
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 21 P.3d 505 (Employers Reinsurance Corp. v. Kansas Commissioner of Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Employers Reinsurance Corp. v. Kansas Commissioner of Insurance, 21 P.3d 505, 271 Kan. 253, 2001 Kan. LEXIS 263 (N.D. 2001).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Six, J.:

This case concerns the assessment of costs to pay for the administration of the Kansas Workers Compensation Act and the [254]*254Workers Compensation Fund. The case is on judicial review of a final order of the Kansas Commissioner of Insurance (Commissioner) under K.S.A. 77-621 of the Kansas Act for Judicial Review and Civil Enforcement of Agency Actions (KJRA).

The Commissioner affirmed a hearing officer’s order requiring petitioner Employers Reinsurance Corporation (ERC) to pay assessments and to provide reports of claim loss payments paid out under its workers compensation policies. ERC objects to the payments. The district court found that the Commissioner erroneously interpreted and applied the statutes at issue. In reversing the Commissioner, the district court reasoned that ERC cannot be subject to assessment because it neither writes workers compensation insurance coverage nor pays benefits to employees under the Workers Compensation Act. The Kansas Department of Human Resources (KDHR) intervened because the Commissioner’s order affects assessments made by KDHR’s Division of Workers Compensation. The Commissioner and the KDHR appeal.

Finding no error, we affirm. We use “Commissioner” where appropriate in the balance of our opinion to refer to both appellants.

Our jurisdiction is under K.S.A. 20-3017 (transfer from the Court of Appeals on the Commissioner’s motion).

The question for resolution is whether ERC is a workers compensation insurance carrier required to pay assessments to the Director of Workers Compensation under K.S.A. 74-712 to K.S.A. 74-716 and to the Commissioner under K.S.A. 44-566a.

FACTS

The facts are not in dispute. ERC is a stock fire and casualty insurance company. The Kansas Insurance Department (KID) has authorized ERC to sell workers compensation insurance, and also automobile liability, accident and health, surety and forgery bonds, and general liability insurance. The Commissioner has regulatory jurisdiction over ERC and its insurance activities under K.S.A. 2000 Supp. 40-102, K.S.A. 40-103, and K.S.A. 77-501 et seq.

ERC issues a KID-approved policy, entitled “Specific Excess Workers Compensation and Employers Liability Indemnity Policy” [255]*255(policy). The policy has specific and aggregate limits and is sold to Kansas employers self-insuring their risk of loss for workers compensation and employer s liability benefits. ERC writes no workers compensation coverage in Kansas. The policy provides indemnity coverage to employers and does not provide workers compensation benefits or payments directly to injured workers. The parties stipulated that the policy does not contain provisions for such benefits as required by K.S.A. 44-501 to K.S.A. 44-520, K.S.A. 44-532, K.S.A. 44-559, and K.S.A. 44-559a.

A self-insured employer contracting with ERC pays its own workers compensation benefit payments to injured employees. The policy provides for reimbursement of the self-insured employer for amounts greater than the agreed retention/deductible amount, including non-workers compensation payments and expenses, such as attorney fees and claim adjusting expenses. When the self-insured employer reaches its aggregate retention limit, policy coverage indemnifies that employer for the amount above the aggregate retention limit. The indemnification payment is not identified to individual claim benefits.

The statutory scheme under K.S.A. 74-712 to -716 provides for assessments to be made by the Director of Workers Compensation for the administration of the Workers Compensation Act. The assessments are against workers compensation insurance carriers, self-insurers, and group-funded workers compensation pools. ERC has not paid these assessments and denies liability for such assessments regarding amounts paid to self-insurers in the calendar years 1993, 1994, and 1995.

In addition, K.S.A. 44-566a provides for assessments to be made by the Commissioner for the administration of the Workers Compensation Fund against workers compensation insurance carriers, self-insurers, and group-funded workers compensation pools. ERC has not paid these assessments and denies liability for such assessments concerning amounts paid to self-insurers in calendar years 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, and 1995.

The District Court’s Rulings

ERC filed a petition for judicial review. The district court, in [256]*256reversing the Commissioner, concluded that ERC writes no insurance coverage that pays benefits or claims to employees under the Workers Compensation Act.

The district court, in a well-reasoned opinion, found that under the plain language of K.S.A. 74-712, “it is clear that [ERC] was not one of the insurers that the legislature intended this provision to cover.” 74-712(a) says that “the legislature shall determine the amount of administrative expense to be obtained . . . from workers’ compensation insurance carriers [and] self-insurers . . . and the amount of such expense to be obtained from other sources.” The district court noted that K.S.A. 74-712 clearly reserves the right of the legislature to decide who pays assessments. If the legislature had meant for indemnity carriers to be assessed, in addition to the self-insurer for whom such a carrier provides excess coverage, the legislature would have included indemnity carriers in the list. See Boatright v. Kansas Racing Comm’n, 251 Kan. 240, 245, 834 P.2d 368 (1992) (noting that “ ‘[i]t is presumed the legislature understood the meaning of the words it used and intended to use them’ ”).

The district court emphasized that K.S.A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
21 P.3d 505, 271 Kan. 253, 2001 Kan. LEXIS 263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/employers-reinsurance-corp-v-kansas-commissioner-of-insurance-nd-2001.