Petronella

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Defendant owned several businesses, including The Reroofing Specialists, Inc., doing business as Petronella Roofing (Petronella Roofing), Western Cleanoff, Inc. (Western), and Petronella Corporation. In September 2000, he obtained a policy of workers‟ compensation insurance from the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) covering Petronella Roofing and Western. Except for a one-month lapse, which resulted in a change in the policy number, SCIF automatically renewed defendant‟s policy every year until 2009. SCIF is a quasi-governmental entity that provides workers‟ compensation insurance. It is funded from the premiums paid by insureds. Premiums are determined

2 using a formula that includes: (1) A business‟s gross payroll for each job classification employed by it; (2) a rating established by a regulatory agency named The Workers‟ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) that reflects the expected loss claims for each job classification; and (3) a rating, called an experience modification, which compares the insured‟s record of employee injury claims to the injury claims of the particular industry as a whole. Defendant was required to make…