Oklahoma Takes Over Texas Co.

After a request by Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher, former Oklahoma County District Court Judge Leamon Freeman, acting as a hearing officer in the matter, approved an order placing Arlington, Texas-based Petrosurance Casualty Co. into conservatorship. Licensed as an Oklahoma domestic insurance company, Petrosurance writes workers’ compensation insurance mainly for oil field operators in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Louisiana. Its largest book of business resides in Texas, but 22 percent of its writings, or $5.4 million, are in Oklahoma. According to Oklahoma state law, workers’ comp carriers must have at least $5 million in capital and surplus, but Petrosurance was reported to have substantially less. The company also was allegedly slow to comply with information requests from the Oklahoma Insurance Department. Conservatorship is a form of oversight that allows Fisher to run the company, but does not automatically provide access to funding through the Oklahoma Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association. The company had been in voluntary supervision since May 29, which allowed Fisher to approve or disapproved the company’s actions relating to finances. Following Freeman’s order, Fisher named Cynthia Sikorski assistant conservator for Petrosurance.