BATON ROUGE, La. (March 26, 2008) -- Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation (LWCC) will pay a $45.5 million dividend to qualifying policyholders in April, LWCC President and CEO Kristin W. Wall announced today.

"This dividend signals another strong year in Louisiana's workers' compensation insurance market," said Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon. "LWCC continues to contribute to the success of our market by offering a quality product at lower rates to the benefit of policyholders."

LWCC's board of directors declared the dividend for the calendar year 2007, and the Louisiana Department of Insurance approved it on Feb. 26, 2008. LWCC returned a $23.2 million dividend to its qualifying policyholders last year.

More than 20,000 policyholders will receive a portion of the new dividend. Individual dividend awards are based on a calculation that takes into account policyholders' premium payments and longevity with LWCC over the last five years.

"LWCC had an extraordinary year in 2007, allowing us to return a sizable dividend to our policyholders," said Wall. "The property and casualty industry results in 2007 were very strong, achieving the highest overall profitability since 1988. LWCC benefitted from favorable underlying loss trends and underwriting results, like others in the industry, as well as extraordinary investment gains during 2007. We are extremely pleased to be putting dollars back into the pockets of Louisiana businesses to help strengthen our state's economy as we continue the process of rebuilding."

LWCC (www.lwcc.com) is a private, nonprofit mutual insurance company. Since its creation by the legislature in 1991, it has become the largest writer of workers' compensation insurance in Louisiana. The company carries an "A" (Excellent) rating from A.M. Best and, for the sixth consecutive year, was named one of the top 50 property and casualty insurance companies in the nation out of more than 2,700--by Ward Group, the leading authority on insurance industry benchmarking.

"This dividend underscores the financial strength of LWCC," said LWCC Chairman Aubrey T. Temple, Jr. "We are grateful to our agent partners, who have contributed to our financial success, and to our policyholders, who have joined us in helping to make Louisiana workplaces safer."

With this latest dividend, LWCC will have paid dividends to its policyholders for five consecutive years, totaling over $114 million. In keeping with its commitment to provide policyholder value, the company also has lowered rates by more than 40 percent since it began operations in 1992.