Another issue for either a good worker's comp. lawyer or an attorney who routinely sues insurance companies in general, is whether, as a form of "insurance" created and not simply governed by state law, a carrier is subject to a claim of "first party bad faith" under state law.

I know such claims against a heath insurance company, whose "IRS qualified" benefit plan is made available to you through an employment relationship, is subject to ERISA pre-emption: federal law takes over. The potential distinctions here are that (1) workers comp exists solely because of state law and varies from state to state, and (2) the employee may be deemed to have opted out of his/her ERISA pre-empted company health insurance by filing for WC in the first place.

On account of which, there may - to the extent that the WC legislation doesn't bar claims against carriers in it's own right - be a higher standards before state bad faith law as applied to WC carriers can be found subject to federal pre-emption, e.g. a statement of express intent in the federal legislation as opposed to what we have now, Supreme Court caselaw, made out of wholecloth, that ERISA constitutes a complete "occupation of the field" in matters pertaining to employment benefits.

It might be worth asking about anyway.

Mike