Workers’ Compensation Insurance Surveillance Laws – Colorado
Currently there is virtually no regulation for Workers’ Compensation carriers, general carriers, or their independent professional surveillance crews to conduct investigation and surveillance with any regard a claimant’s interests, private or not in The State of Colorado. Synonymous laws for investigation of these and other insurance coverages could not be found in surrounding states. Although it wouldn’t be considered a best-practice, there is thing preventing any investigator, adjuster, or surveillance professional from hanging upside down in ree staring through the claimant’s window with night goggles on, so long as they aren’t trespassing. a worst case scenario, one might get caught and end up with a restraining order but the odds that any aimant files suit is slim to begin with because of their mutual interest in keeping benefits or maining undiscovered if they are in fact fraudulently accepting benefits.
Even if excessive surveillance could possibly be misconstrued as a bad faith attempt to delay or gate indemnification, Schnacker v.State Farm has set a well tested bar in Colorado which prevents a third party claimant from suing a first party insurer because they are not a party to the insurance contract. Workers’ Compensation insurance falls under this category because the employer is the party the contract, not the employee or claimant in the case.
Workers’ Compensation insurers have a capacity to amass evidence against claimants, thus, any unbiased reader of this review or investigator of such claims has wonder what prevents these insurers and surveillance professionals from falsely denying claims altogether after surveillance is over, even if evidence exists against doing so. Further, we have to ask why they would need such freedom to go around investigating the claims that they choose to investigate. For reasons thus far it seems that Workers’ Compensation is a largely unfair practice to the claimant, but we should review the new point from insurers as well as the reasoning for these needs are addressed in three parts as follows: Read more…
