MINUTES OF THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SECTION
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
December 21, 2007
I. CALLED TO ORDER:
Chair Elect Holly Somers called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. Present at the meeting were:
Mark Thesing; Jill Riechers; Julie Masters; Dale Johnson; Geoffrey Wren; Holly Somers; Betty Worcester; Robert Guarrasi; Matthew Fisher; and Matthew Roy.
II. MINUTES:
We reviewed the minutes of the October Workers’ Compensation Executive Committee Meeting and Mark Thesing moved that the October Minutes be approved. Geoffrey Wren seconded the motion and the Minutes were unanimously approved.
III. DISCUSSION RE ATTORNEY FEES AND REMOVAL OF THE CAP:
Holly Somers began the discussion with regard to our position on attorney fees and eliminating the cap, increasing the cap, or keeping the cap as-is. There was some question about whether the Board of Governors had issued an opinion and, apparently, Linh Vu had felt uncomfortable expressing the position of the Executive Committee that had previously been voted on and passed, that being the removal of the cap. She was somewhat uncomfortable because of this Board of Governors’ opinion. We did not have a copy of the Board of Governors’ opinion and Betty Worcester indicated that was discussed and she was unsure as to the status of the Board of Governors’ opinion. However, Abby Herman, the current Board Chair, had asked for our opinion as an Executive Committee on the attorney fee issue. A motion was made with the question of whether the Executive Committee should take a position on the attorney fee issue. That motion passed and the decision was that the Executive Committee should take a position with regard to the attorney fees. Geoffrey Wren then moved to wait on the vote until the January 18 meeting. Matthew Roy will then have to deal with that issue, as the ALJ’s would need to abstain, which would mean that Holly Somers, as the Chair, would not be able to vote on that issue. The issue raised was whether the ALJ’s actually can vote on that issue as members of the Executive Committee, and that question was not answered. There seems to be some concern over the Code of Judicial Conduct that would prohibit the ALJ’s from actually taking a position on that attorney fee increase. The majority of the meeting was spent discussing these issues and, ultimately, it was decided that it would be tabled until the January 18, 2008 meeting and, hopefully, the Executive Committee would have a quorum without the ALJ’s participation in order to take a vote if it is ultimately decided that ALJ’s cannot take a position.
IV. TREASURER’S REPORT:
The Treasurer was not available for the meeting, however, the 2008 budget was approved with the amendment to the Campaign for Equal Justice as discussed in prior minutes.
V. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Salishan Report The committee is looking for a speaker for the diversity credit. Adrian Ortega is currently chairing the Race Ethnic Committee, but Dale Johnson was indicating he may take over that position. They are going to be responsible for finding a topic and/or speaker to recommend to the Salishan Committee for that diversity credit. Secondly, we approved the Salishan budget in the amount of $24,000. Third, there was a discussion about whether to reduce the price for section members to $150 and the Board to $125. That decision was deferred. The issue of a no sponsor golf tournament was tabled for a motion and seconded to obtain more information about why the golf tournament would not be sponsored by the Section. We voted to approve the contract for 2009 and 2010 to maintain the meeting at Salishan Resort.
B. Communication Committee Julie Masters gave us her e-mail address, which would be [email protected].
C. Daughtry Committee No report.
D. Rules and Legislative Committee There was a question about joining them together and making them just the Rules and Legislative Committee jointly. Julie Masters was stepping down, therefore, we needed a new Chair for the committee. Julie Masters indicated she would continue to be the liaison to the Workers’ Compensation Executive Committee. The decision was made to revisit this issue in January and Julie was going to follow-up with the members regarding their interest.
E. Bench Bar Credits were approved for the Bench Bar and it was very successful. Congratulations went out to Jill Riechers and Mustafa Kasubhai for their successful organization and presentation of the Bench Bar Forum.
. F Old Business None.
G. New Business We discussed the meeting dates for next year and the next meeting being January 18, 2008 as our last meeting at the old Bar offices as they would be moving shortly after that next meeting.
The meeting adjourned for the year at 1:30 p.m.