Court upholds $156M Palestinian terror verdict
National News
A federal appeals court has upheld a $156 million judgment against three Palestinian charities accused of bankrolling terrorism, but dropped a Chicago man from the long-running civil suit.
The opinion was filed over the killing by Hamas terrorists of American-born student David Boim (BOYM). It says donors to charities are liable if those charities engage in terrorist acts.
But the court dropped Chicagoan Muhammad Salah (suh-LAH') from the case, saying he was in jail when the anti-terrorism law was passed, so he couldn't have violated it.
Boim was fatally shot in May 1996 while standing at a bus stop in a West Bank town near Jerusalem.
The case isn't over who pulled the trigger, but who must pay damages.
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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.