Wenatchee lawyer picked for federal judgeship
Headline Legal News
The White House has nominated Wenatchee lawyer Stanley Bastian to become Eastern Washington's newest federal judge.
If approved by the Senate, he would replace Judge Edward Shea on the bench in Richland.
Bastian is a 1983 University of Washington Law School graduate who has served as an assistant city attorney in Seattle and as a state Appeals Court law clerk. He joined a Wenatchee firm in 1988.
The Spokesman-Review reports in the 1990s Bastian was hired by Douglas County to defend sheriff's investigators and prosecutors who were sued for their roles in the discredited Wenatchee sex ring case.
The Tri-City Herald reports Shea was the first federal judge to be based full-time in the Tri-Cities and went on senior status in June 2012, with a reduced workload.
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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.