Court returns ex-Fort Bragg cook to execution track
Legal Events
A former Fort Bragg soldier who killed four women and raped others more than 25 years ago is again headed for execution.
The Fayetteville Observer reports Ronald Gray last week lost a battle to keep in place a federal court's order issued eight years ago blocking his execution.
The former Army cook's death sentence would be the first for the U.S. military since 1961.
Gray was convicted and condemned in military court in 1988 for two murders and three rapes while stationed at Fort Bragg. He pleaded guilty in civilian courts to two more murders and five separate rapes.
Gray is being held at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Gray was scheduled to die in 2008 after President George W. Bush signed an execution order.
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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.