MILLER v. FARMERS INSURANCE
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in MILLER v. FARMERS INSURANCE, No. 05-35080, a federal appeal. The panel consisted of Barry G. Silverman and Ronald M. Gould, Circuit Judges, and John S. Rhoades, Sr., District Judge.
SILVERMAN, Circuit Judge:
For more than 50 years, the Department of Labor has considered claims adjusters exempt from the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime requirement. In 2004, the DOL promulgated 29 C.F.R. ยง 541.203, which it viewed as “consistent with” existing law. Section 541.203 exempts claims adjusters if they perform activities such as interviewing witnesses, making recommendations regarding coverage and value of claims, determining fault and negotiating settlements. In this case, the plaintiffs are nearly 2,000 former and current claims adjusters who handle, respectively, automobile damage claims, non-automobile property damage claims, personal injury claims and various combinations of these. They . . .
The Opinion filed October 26, 2006, slip op. 17921, and appearing at 466 F.3d 853 (9th Cir. 2006), is amended as follows:
1. At slip op. 17934, footnote 4, second paragraph, lines 7 & 9, insert “under the FLSA” after “the claims adjusters in this case are exempt” and “under the statute” after “liquidated damages.” 2. At slip op. 17939, replace citation at the end of the paragraph labeled headnote [6] with “Cheatham v. Allstate Ins. Co., 465 F.3d 578, 586 (5th Cir. 2006) (per curiam).” 3. At slip op. 17941, line 3, delete “(Emphasis added.)” at end of sentence and replace with the following: (Quoting DOL Wage & Hour Div. Op. Ltr., at 3 (Nov. 19, 2002) (”If an adjuster erroneously recommends that coverage should be denied, even on a claim of relatively low value, the insurance company may be liable for significant extra contractual damages for bad faith denial of the claim.”).) . . .