3744. (a) (1) The fund shall have the right and obligation to obtain reimbursement from an insolvent self-insurer up to the amount of the self-insurer’s workers’ compensation obligations paid and assumed by the fund, including reasonable administrative and legal costs. This right includes, but is not limited to, a right to claim for wages and other necessities of life advanced to claimants as subrogee of the claimants in any action to collect against the self-insured as debtor. For purposes of this section, “insolvent self-insurer” includes the entity to which the certificate of consent to self-insure was issued, any guarantor of the entity’s liabilities under the certificate, any member of a self-insurance group to which the certificate was issued, and any employer who obtained employees from a self-insured employer under subdivision (d) of Section 3602.
(2) The Legislature finds and declares that the amendments made to this subdivision by the act adding this paragraph are declaratory of existing law.
(b) The fund shall have the right and obligation to obtain from the security deposit of an insolvent self-insurer the amount of the self-insurer’s compensation obligations, including reasonable administrative and legal costs, paid or assumed by the fund. Reimbursement of administrative costs, including legal costs, shall be subject to approval by a majority vote of the fund’s trustees. The fund shall be a party in interest in any action to obtain the security deposit for the payment of compensation obligations of an insolvent self-insurer.
(c) The fund shall have the right to bring an action against any person to recover compensation paid and liability assumed by the fund, including, but not limited to, any excess insurance carrier of the self-insured employer, and any person whose negligence or breach of any obligation contributed to any underestimation of the self-insured employer’s total accrued liability as reported to the director.
(d) The fund may be a party in interest in any action brought by any other person seeking damages resulting from the failure of an insolvent self-insurer to pay workers’ compensation required pursuant to this division.
(e) At the election of the Self-Insurers’ Security Fund, venue shall be in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Sacramento, for any action under this section. All actions in which the Self-Insurers’ Security Fund and two or more members or former members of one self-insurance group are parties shall be consolidated if requested by the Self-Insurers’ Security Fund.
(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 363, Sec. 24. (SB 863) Effective January 1, 2013.)