Lawsuit alleges workers’ comp lapse at Marysville shop [Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.]

March 29--An insurance company has sued a Marysville business after one of its employees contracted cancer and received more than $250,000 in workers' compensation.

Zenith Insurance Co. sued George Deveraux Sr., George Deveraux Jr. and their Superior Radiator in Marysville.

Zenith's attorney, Mark Klein, declined to comment.

"I haven't been notified at all," George Deveraux Jr. said last week of the lawsuit. "I don't have any comment."

His father, George Deveraux Sr., served on the Yuba County Board of Supervisors in the 1980s and early 1990s, representing Linda.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Yuba County Superior Court, alleged that Superior Radiator let its workers' compensation policy lapse.

Zenith issued the policy to Superior Radiator in December 2004.

The policy was canceled in February 2005 after Superior failed to pay the premium, the suit alleged.

In April 2010, a former employee, Pedro Herrejon, filed an application for workers' compensation.

The suit said he worked at Superior Radiator from 1989 through 2008 and claimed he contracted cancer from chemicals used at the facility.

In July 2010, the suit said, a Workers' Compensation Appeals Board judge ordered that Zenith be brought into the case because it had provided the lapsed policy for Superior Radiator.

Last July, Zenith "recognized its liability for the Herrejon claim ... and was compelled to pay workers' compensation benefits ..."

The payments started in August and are continuing.

They now total $263,364.74, the suit said. Zenith wants to be reimbursed.

The company alleged that had Superior Radiator "obtained workers' compensation insurance after (its) policy ... was canceled on Feb. 25, 2005, (Zenith) would not have incurred any liability on the Herrejon claim."

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