Lawsuit filed about Missouri's Second Injury Fund

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A new lawsuit has been filed involving a financially troubled Missouri fund for injured workers.

Missouri's Second Injury Fund takes businesses off the hook for paying claims of workers with previous injuries or conditions who are re-injured on the job.

It is financed by a surcharge employers pay for workers' compensation insurance. That surcharge was capped at 3 percent in 2005. Previously, the charge fluctuated based on a formula.

Analysts have warned for several years the fund was running out of money. In March, the attorney general's office began withholding new permanent total disability awards.

The new lawsuit was filed this week in the Capitol's home of Cole County seeking to block enforcement of the surcharge cap. A lawsuit already had been filed in federal court focused on the fund.