oklahoma workers comp

Legislators Seek to Change Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation

By Ray Maples on February 16, 2011

New legislation is being sought to improve the way workers’ compensation lawsuits are treated in Oklahoma, according to an article on NewsOK.com. The governor of Oklahoma addressed the House and the Senate recently regarding her proposal to change the way personal injury lawsuits are handled in order to help injured workers in a more timely manner.

The governor stated that with the way things are now, Oklahoma workers’ compensation costs are too high and claims are not processed quickly enough. Currently, the state has roughly 170,000 open workers’ compensation claims. The governor wants to see a hard cap set for non-economic damages at $250,000 which would include pain and suffering. At this time, there is no cap; however, a bill was passed two years ago that would place a $400,000 cap on all negligence cases if legislators passed an indemnity fund, which would cover jury awards over that amount. No fund has been created thus far.

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