Calif county drafting solar-ag compatibility law
National News
A California county is drafting a solar power law designed to protect agriculture.
The Yolo County ordinance would require solar project applicants to prove there is no available non-prime farmland nearby and would require developers to set aside land for farming and wildlife.
The Sacramento Bee says a vote on the ordinance could come as early as September.
Big solar projects are blossoming in California because of a new state law requiring utilities to obtain 33 percent of their power from renewable sources. The deadline for hitting the 33 percent mark is 2020.
Plans for a solar law come as developers Angelo Tsakopoulos and Phil Angelides propose rows of metal and concrete solar panels on 688 acres of rice-growing land in Yolo County near Interstate 80 and the Yolo Causeway.
Related listings
-
Judge wants agency to investigate Meijer lawyer
National News 07/25/2011A judge believes a lawyer committed perjury when he denied knowing anything about the role of Meijer Inc. in a 2007 recall election of township officials in northern Michigan's Grand Traverse County. Judge Philip Rodgers said he has referred the matt...
-
Defendant in 4 Calif. killings now wants lawyer
National News 07/06/2011The man charged with killing four Northern California women with matching first and last initials has asked for a court-appointed attorney to help him defend himself. Seventy-seven-year-old Joseph Naso is currently acting as his own attorney. But he ...
-
Mich. man sues, wants Chevron stock at '04 price
National News 07/04/2011A former lawyer intrigued by the global demand for energy says he chose to invest $100,000 in oil giant Chevron Corp. back in 2004, a smart stock bet that now would have doubled seven years later. But Perry Christy has a big problem: He says Chevron'...
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.