George Woolverton Appointed To CIGA Board Of Governors By Lonce LaMon - April 16, 2012
George Woolverton, a partner in the law firm of Stockwell, Harris, Woolverton & Muehl, was appointed by the state of California senate to the California Insurance Guarantee Association Board of Governors on April 5th 2012.
The California Insurance Guarantee Association, commonly referred to as CIGA, handles a large body of run-off claims from insolvent insurance carriers. Since its creation in 1969, CIGA has successfully taken over the covered claim responsibilities of over one hundred insolvent Member Insurers. Between the years 1969 and 2000, CIGA averaged payments of approximately $51 million per year.
But, by the year 2004, a number of insolvencies from large Workers' Compensation Member Insurers greatly increased CIGA's payments. Two of those insolvent insurers during that time period of the very early 21st Century were Paula Insurance Company, or Pan American Underwriters, and Fremont Indemnity/Fremont Compensation Insurance Company.
For the 2011 fiscal year, CIGA paid in excess of $234 million in claims arising from insolvent Member Insurers. For the most recent five year period from 2007 through 2011, CIGA paid out in excess of $1.4 billion, which was an average of approximately $280 million per year for each of the past five years. That’s a huge difference from the average $51 million annually that was the payout from 1969 to the end of the 20th Century. So, the yearly pay-outs increased from a $51 million average in the 20th Century since 1969 to a $280 million average for our recent past five years. That’s an increase of five to six times the annual amount from the 20th Century. That is radical.
The Board of Governors which oversees CIGA is appointed mostly by the California Insurance Commissioner. Nine of the Board’s members are insurer members and four are public members. The Insurance Commissioner appoints two of the public members and the other two public members are appointed by the state assembly, which appoints one, and the state Senate, which appoints one. George Woolverton was appointed by the state Senate after he applied for the public position.
George Woolverton is a veteran workers’ compensation defense attorney who joined the law firm of Zonni, Ginnochio & Taylor in 1974 when he was still a law clerk. He got his J.D. degree from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles in 1975 and passed the Bar exam that same year, consequently, becoming a lawyer with Zonni’s office. He stayed with that firm for 20 years until he joined “Stockwell’s office”, as the 60-year-old, ever evolving firm is known affectionately in the workers’ compensation claims industry.
Back in the 1960s and 70s, the Stockwell office was called Kendig, Stockwell & Gleason. Then it went through different partners over time but always retained the Stockwell name. It changed to Stockwell, Harris, Anderson & Widom at one stage and then moved on to Stockwell, Harris, Widom & Woolverton. Now, since 2009, the firm is known as Stockwell, Harris, Woolverton & Muehl. There might have been other variations of the firm name which this writer has missed.
George Woolverton was the Chairman of the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission starting in 1999 when he was appointed by then-California governor Gray Davis. He served for eight years and then was reappointed by governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 for another four year term. He oversaw this judicial body that handles Department of Fair Employment and Housing cases.
“I oversaw the judicial process to adjudicate through my commission,” George said Friday, April 13th by phone. When commenting on his time as the Chairman of the FEHC he said, “It was a great experience from a personal perspective.”
George seems to be a political animal and enjoys a life in politics. When asked if he feels this is a correct depiction of him, he said, “Yeah, I think so.”
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