Sotomayor Running Out Of Potential GOP Support
Headline Legal News
According to The National Law Journal, the chances are dwindling that a substantial number of Republicans will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, after a key GOP senator announced his opposition Monday morning.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ended months of public indecision when he announced he would vote against confirmation, eliminating one of the last, best chances Sotomayor had of winning over prominent conservatives. Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, had previously said he had concerns about her nomination but had stopped short of saying he would oppose her.
The announcement means the vote on whether to confirm Sotomayor will likely stick close to the partisan divide, continuing the trend of polarization on judicial nominations.
The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider Sotomayor's nomination today, and only one Republican member -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, S.C. -- out of the seven on the committee has said he plans to support her. The full Senate is expected to vote on the nomination next week after as many as four days of debate, and five Republicans have pledged their support.
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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.