BrickStreet Writes Outside West Virginia; Drops Worst In-State Accounts

BrickStreet Mutual Insurance has written its first out-of-state policy. The policy, which went into effect Jan. 1, covers the employees of a West Virginia-based pipeline company working in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

BrickStreet, the leading provider of workers’ compensation coverage in West Virginia, has until now been limited to only providing coverage for companies within West Virginia. Starting Jan. 1, BrickStreet is partnering with Argonaut Insurance Co. to provide coverage in other states for West Virginia policyholders.

The company said its relationship with Argonaut will continue until BrickStreet can independently write in other states, a possibility BrickStreet said it plans to explore in 2009.

The Friedlander Co. of Charleston is the local agent for the first out-of-state policy.

“Our underwriters are quoting a number of out-of-state policies and soon BrickStreet will be actively competing to provide West Virginia policyholders with other states coverage. Still, this is the first and that makes it an important step for our company,” said BrickStreet President and CEO Gregory A. Burton.

Meanwhile BrickStreet is looking to trim costs in 2009 by dropping nearly 1,000 workers’ compensation policies Burton calls the worst of the worst.

Burton said the policies have brought in about $16 million worth of premiums, but had losses of $66 million.

BrickStreet reported in October it has 32,202 policyholders, so the dropped policies represent about 3 percent of the total. The workers’ compensation insurer began notifying affected companies in November.

Burton said the policies will still be on BrickStreet’s books for much of 2009, since they can’t be canceled until companies reach their renewal dates.

Topics Workers' Compensation Virginia West Virginia