Guantanamo Claims Before EU Court of Human Rights

National News

Six Guantanamo Bay prisoners, whose case was heard by the USSupreme Court in December, filed claims in the European Court of HumanRights in Strasbourg against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnianauthorities failed for many years to take any steps to negotiate andsecure the men’s release from Guantanamo. The claims address thetorture and other inhumane and degrading treatment the men havesuffered during the six years since they were illegally delivered byBosnia to US forces and taken to Guantanamo.

Thefilings describe in chilling detail the indignities, injuries, tortureand terror inflicted by US military personnel on the six men in thecourse of their imprisonment at Guantanamo. Accompanying medicalopinions describe the resulting destruction of their physical andmental health. Beginning with a 30 hour flight on which he wasshackled, and blindfolded and through the ensuing years when he hasbeen subjected to extended periods of sleep deprivation, solitaryconfinement, assault during interrogation and threats of rape, Mr.Boumediene, like the 5 others, has suffered life shattering physicaland mental injuries.

Mr. Ait Idir, who was taken from hispregnant wife in violation of a Bosnian court order to free him,detailed multiple beatings by rogue guards, extended periods ofisolation from other prisoners and multiple occasions when he wasopenly denied needed medical treatment. In one especially gruesomeattack, Mr. Ait Idir describes how, while his hands and feet were tied,rogue guards stuffed a flowing hose into his mouth, repeatedly slammedhis head and torso into steel and concrete surfaces, lowered his faceand head into a toilet and inflicted blows of such force that his headand face were paralyzed for months.

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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.

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