• TEXAS

  Here are some recent developments from the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC):

  Jeff Nelson was appointed to serve as the Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation in August 2022. The commissioner oversees DWC, which regulates the workers’ compensation system in Texas, ensuring injured employees receive the necessary benefits to quickly return to work, and keeping workers’ compensation costs at a reasonable level for Texas employers.

  The commissioner enforces the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act and rules and administers the certified self-insurance program for individual employers. DWC’s responsibilities also include resolving claim level disputes about medical and income benefits, as well as medical fee disputes.

  Commissioner Nelson has been with DWC since March of 2016. Prior to being appointed commissioner, he served as the Director of External Relations. As director, he was the primary point of contact for legislative offices and stakeholders and worked to advance DWC’s policies and initiatives.

  Commissioner Nelson, who received a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin, has more than 15 years of public service experience. He previously served as a senior campaign consultant for Congressman Kevin Brady, executive aide to Governor Rick Perry, and as a legislative aide to State Senator Tommy Williams where he worked on insurance issues involving workers’ compensation and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. He is a board member of the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators.

  Kara Squier, an administrative law judge (ALJ) in the Fort Worth Field Office of DWC, became team lead for the northern region of the Hearings program area. In that position, she supervises the ALJs in her region. Judge Squier received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Louisiana State University and a law degree from Texas A&M University School of Law. She began her career practicing workers’ compensation law as an attorney for injured employees until she left to join a firm practicing civil litigation. Through her litigation work, she joined another firm where she acted as a managing attorney for its social security disability division. Judge Squier returned to workers’ compensation law in 2014, when she joined DWC as an ALJ, initially in the Waco Field Office.

  Marilyn “Katie” Kidd, an ALJ in the Austin headquarters of DWC, was named the hearings coordinator for DWC. In addition to presiding over hearings, she coordinates projects for the Hearings program area and projects with other DWC departments. Recently, she has been updating DWC forms, notice letters, Hearings-related web pages, and training programs for Hearings staff. Judge Kidd has 28 years of experience as an attorney in the workers’ compensation system and has been an ALJ with DWC for nine years, initially in the DWC Dallas Field Office. She has a bachelor’s degree in advertising and marketing from Texas Tech University and a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.

  Robin Lowenkron Holm joined DWC as an ALJ in the DWC Houston West Field Office. Judge Holm received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. She subsequently attended the University of Houston Law School where she received her law degree in 1996. She started her legal career with a real estate and commercial litigation firm in Houston.  In 1999, she joined the firm of Smith & Carr, P.C. handling insurance defense, insurance subrogation, and workers’ compensation cases. She is board certified in workers’ compensation law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

• FLORIDA

 

Governor Ron DeSantis recently appointed Barbara Case to be a judge of compensation claims in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Along with other judges, she will preside over workers’ compensation claims brought in Palm Beach, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie counties.  Judge Case was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2001, following her graduation from St. Thomas University College of Law in 2000. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of South Florida in 1997.  While in private practice, Judge Case served on the Florida Workers’ Compensation Rules Advisory Committee, and was named a Super Lawyer in the area of workers’ compensation.

 

 

Governor Ron DeSantis recently appointed Jill Jacobs to be a judge of compensation claims in Orlando, Florida.  Along with other judges, she will preside over workers’ compensation claims brought in Orange, Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties.  Judge Jacobs was admitted to the Florida Bar in October 1987, following her graduation from the University of Miami School of Law. She received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in 1983. Besides working as a private attorney, she also served as the deputy city attorney for Palm Bay, Florida, immediately prior to her appointment.  Judge Jacobs is board-certified in workers’ compensation law, and is a member of the Judge William Wieland American Inns of Court.

 

Governor Ron DeSantis recently appointed Lourdes Sancerni to be a judge of compensation claims in Orlando, Florida.  Along with other judges, she will preside over workers’ compensation claims brought in Orange, Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties.  Judge Sancerni was admitted to the Florida Bar in April 2003, following her graduation from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in December 2002. She received her undergraduate degree from Florida International University.  Immediately prior to her appointment, Judge Sancerni was an attorney, focusing her practice on workers’ compensation law in North and Central Florida.

 

 

 

• Judge Appointment Announced for the Memphis Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims

Administrator Troy Haley has appointed Shaterra Reed Marion as a judge on the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims, the adjudicative function within the Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC). She will be located in the Memphis office of the BWC.