Hospitals v. Continental Casualty Company
109 S.W.3d 96 (Tex. App.-Austin 2003, pet. denied).
As counsel for Continental Casualty Company, we successfully challenged the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission’s refusal to apply its own one-year statute of limitations rule to medical disputes filed by Texas hospitals as a result of the prior invalidation of the agency’s 1992 Hospital Fee Guideline. The Third Court of Appeals in Austin held that insurers had a vested right to rely on this rule as a defense against claims brought more than one year after the date of service and this right could not be waived by the Commission by entering into a settlement agreement with the hospitals. The Court’s decision resulted in the dismissal of approximately 16,000 claims for additional payment filed against Texas workers’ compensation insurers. Those claims were estimated to total approximately $280 million dollars, including claims for interest.
See A Landmark Decision for Administrative Law, DOCKET CALL, Winter 2004-05, at 28.
