Ohio schools officer to plead guilty to sex charge
Headline Legal News
A former Ohio school resource police officer is pleading guilty to a charge that he coerced sexual behavior from minors.
A federal judge had called Todd Smith's alleged actions "violence of the worst sort" earlier this year after listening to a prosecutor and FBI agent read sexually graphic text messages Smith exchanged with two 15-year-old girls at a Columbus high school.
Smith's attorney Sam Shamansky said Wednesday that Smith will plead guilty to one count of using a cell phone to entice two underage minors to engage in sexual activity.
Columbus federal judge Algenon Marbley has not set a court date for Smith's plea hearing.
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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.