18-month sentence for South Korean blogger
Headline Legal News
The 30-year-old blogger, a fierce critic of government economic policy,was arrested and indicted in January after he wrote that the governmenthad banned major financial institutions and trade businesses frombuying U.S. dollars.
Prosecutorshave said the posting was not only inaccurate, but it had affected theforeign exchange market and undermined the nation's credibility.
Butopposition parties and critics have claimed the arrest is aimed atsilencing criticism of the government and restricts online freedom ofspeech.
Seoul District Court spokesman Kwon Tae-young saidprosecutors demanded 18 months in prison for the blogger, identified asPark Dae-sung, and the court is scheduled to deliver a verdict on April20.
The charge carries up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won ($38,000).
Theblogger, known by his pen name "Minerva" after the Greek goddess ofwisdom, had rocketed to fame after some of his predictions, includingthe collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, proved to becorrect.
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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.