Court hearing set in White House shooting case
Headline Legal News
A man accused of firing shots at the White House in an alleged assassination attempt of President Barack Obama is due in court.
A hearing in federal court in Washington on Friday will focus on the mental health of Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, who's accused of using an assault rifle to shoot at the White House last month. The president was out of town at the time.
Acquaintances have said Ortega was acting strangely in recent months, and law enforcement officials have said he had become obsessed with Obama.
A preliminary psychiatric screening found him competent to stand trial, but federal prosecutors are asking for more extensive tests to make certain that they can proceed with the case.
Related listings
-
Next ICC prosecutor warns against sex crimes
Headline Legal News 12/14/2011The next chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court pledged Tuesday to strengthen efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of sexual and gender crimes. A day after her election by the 119 countries that support the tribunal, Gambian law...
-
High court to review tough Arizona immigration law
Headline Legal News 12/13/2011The Supreme Court stepped into the fight Monday over a tough Arizona law that requires local police to help enforce federal immigration laws — pushing the court deeper into hot, partisan issues of the 2012 election campaign. The court's election-year...
-
CA same-sex marriage ban gets another day in court
Headline Legal News 12/09/2011The sponsors of California's gay marriage ban renewed their effort Thursday to disqualify a federal judge because of his same-sex relationship, but they met a skeptical audience in an appeals court panel. It's the first time an American jurist's sexu...
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.