Judge In California Insurance Case Refuses To Change Ruling In Favor Of Lara Donor

For the second time in three months, a judge for the California Department of Insurance has refused to change or reconsider his ruling in a workers compensation case, despite direction from Commissioner Ricardo Lara or his special counsel.

The case involves a subsidiary of a company whose executives gave thousands of dollars to Lara’s political campaign.

Administrative Law Judge Clarke de Maigret, also known as an ALJ, wrote in a response to the commissioner last week that he is unable to abide by the commissioner’s Sept. 19 order to take additional evidence in a case that the judge first decided in July.

De Maigret said for a second time that there is no legal basis for the commissioner’s direction to consider ordering employers who bought less expensive "loss-sensitive" workers’ compensation policies to pay for so-called guaranteed-cost plans, which have higher premiums.