West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Writer BrickStreet Drops Policies

West Virginia’s BrickStreet Insurance is looking to trim costs in 2009 by dropping nearly 1,000 workers’ compensation policies its chief calls the worst of the worst.

Greg Burton says 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 policy holders, so the dropped policies represent about 3 percent of the total.

The workers’ compensation insurer began notifying affected companies in November.

Burton says 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.

BrickStreet was spun off from a state agency in 2006.