Georgia court: Immigrants can't sue state agency on tuition
Ethics
Georgia's highest court on Monday ruled against a group of young people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and wanted access to in-state tuition at the state's colleges and universities.
However, the court decision hinged not on their immigration status, but on whether they were legally allowed to sue the state.
The roughly three dozen young immigrants have temporary permission to stay in the U.S. under a 2012 Obama administration policy. Their lawsuit asked a judge to instruct the university system's Board of Regents to allow them to qualify for in-state tuition.
A Fulton County judge had dismissed the lawsuit, saying it was barred under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which shields the state and state agencies from being sued unless the General Assembly waives that protection. The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling.
"It is settled that the Board is an agency of the State to which sovereign immunity applies," Justice Harold Melton wrote in the unanimous opinion.
The court is severely limiting the ability to challenge the actions of unelected state officials, Charles Kuck, the immigrants' lawyer, said in an emailed statement.
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Workers’ Compensation Subrogation of Administrative Fees and Costs
When a worker covered by workers’ compensation makes a claim against a third party, the workers’ compensation insurance retains the right to subrogate against any recovery from that third party for all benefits paid to or on behalf of a claimant injured at work. When subrogating for more than basic medical and indemnity benefits, the Texas workers’ compensation subrogation statute provides that “the net amount recovered by a claimant in a third‑party action shall be used to reimburse the carrier for benefits, including medical benefits that have been paid for the compensable injury.” TX Labor Code § 417.002.
In fact, all 50 states provide for similar subrogation. However, none of them precisely outlines which payments or costs paid by a compensation carrier constitute “compensation” and can be recovered. The result is industry-wide confusion and an ongoing debate and argument with claimants’ attorneys over what can and can’t be included in a carrier’s lien for recovery purposes.
In addition to medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or indemnity benefits for lost wages and loss of earning capacity resulting from a compensable injury, workers’ compensation insurance carriers also expend considerable dollars for case management costs, medical bill audit fees, rehabilitation benefits, nurse case worker fees, and other similar fees. They also incur other expenses in conjunction with the handling and adjusting of workers’ compensation claims. Workers’ compensation carriers typically assert, of course, that, they are entitled to reimbursement for such expenditures when it recovers its workers’ compensation lien. Injured workers and their attorneys disagree.