Republic Indemnity Co. v. Empire Builders Corp.

Defendant Empire Builders Corporation appeals from a judgment entered upon a finding of the superior court, a jury having been waived, in favor of plaintiff Republic Indemnity Company for worker’s compensation insurance premiums due, in the amount of $147,181.

The relevant factual-procedural context of the appeal follows.

Plaintiff Republic Indemnity Company was an insurer, in the business of writing and issuing worker’s compensation insurance policies. Defendant Empire Builders Corporation was an employer, engaged in the building construction business.

The minimum premium rates chargeable to employers by worker’s compensation insurers are fixed and supervised uniformly by an agency of the state. (Ins. Code, §§ 11730-11739, inclusive.) Such insurers are therefore unable to compete with others by offering more favorable rates with a correspondingly diminished fund against worker’s compensation claims. But a voluntary return of a portion of such premiums “after the expiration of the term covered by such policy,” is not forbidden. (Ins. Code, § 763, subd. (a).) Worker’s compensation insurers thus sometimes compete with a favorable history of such voluntary premium…