Workers’ Comp Company Files for Chapter 11

Superior National Insurance Group, a workers’ compensation company that was seized by state regulators last month, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it reorganizes. Calabasas-based Superior National said the bankruptcy court filing would not affect the operations of its four subsidiaries under the state’s control. On March 3, the Department of Corporations seized Superior National and fired the company’s top four executives. At the time, state regulators said there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the officials. The takeover stemmed from Superior’s mistakes that left it with underwriting losses and also reflected a downturn in California’s $5-billion-a-year workers’ compensation insurance business. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge last week rejected a bid by Superior to retake the company, in part because its proposal involved reinstating some of the fired executives.