Court Stays Guantanamo Prisoner Release
National News
The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday stayed a federaljudge's order that the Bush administration free 17 prisoners fromGuantanamo. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered the governmentto bring the prisoners to his court Friday, saying the administrationhad not proved they had broken any laws or were "unlawful enemycombatants." The three-judge appeals panel gave the Justice Departmentand the Uighurs' attorneys until Oct. 16 to submit briefs.
TheUighurs, Muslims who lived in China, face torture if deported there,Urbina said, so they must be released in the United States. Theirsupporters say a Pakistani tribe sold the men to the U.S. military forthe U.S.-offered bounty of $5,000 apiece.
Urbina's order on Tuesday set the Bush administration into a tizzy.
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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.