Some insurers beat Poizner to comp rate punch - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Several major players, including and severalp entities have filed for rates far belowthe 23.7 percent averagre increase recommended late last month by the , an industry-supported advisory group, according to a report late last week by Comp Executive, an industry newsletter. The newsletterr reported May 21 that Zenith has filed for a 4percenft increase, and two Berkshire Hathawayt companies, and , filed for 10.3 percent In addition, three companies owned by the Guardf Insurance Group have filed for increases ranging from 2.2 percenty to 5 percent, according to Workers’ Comp Executive.
The filings have not yet appeared on the California Departmenttof Insurance’s web site listings, whichb were last updated May 15, and DOI officials coul not immediately provide confirmation of the But it appears that Zenith and Berkshire Hathaway are betting that they can make mone y without shooting the moon on pricing. Stanley Zax, Woodland Hills-basedc Zenith’s chairman and president, confirmed the 4 percent but declined to comment onwhy Zenith’s proposed increase came in so far below the WCIRnB recommendation. Last fall, Poizner recommended a 5 percent increassefor Jan. 1 rates, and most companies came in with increases close tothat recommendation.
But some observers said earliert this year that much steeper increaseas could be in the offing for TheCalifornia workers’ compensation market “right now is clearly watching and waiting to see what Poizner’s reactionb will be,” Hale Johnston, Pacific Regioj senior vice president and regionakl manager for Employers Insurance Co. of said last month. His company wrote $222.4 million in California workers’ comp coverage last year.