NM Supreme Court orders arrest records expunged
National News
The New Mexico Supreme Court has unanimously ordered arrest records expunged for 32 people who were jailed overnight because a state judge said they were screaming during a hearing for a convicted rapist.
Chief Justice Edward Chavez said Tuesday that the court will publish a formal opinion on the case of state District Judge Sam Sanchez, stressing that judges should know it's important to distinguish between crowd control and contempt proceedings.
Sanchez, a judge of 11 years, had ordered the Nov. 19 mass jailing after he said the court gallery became unruly when he refused to reconsider a convicted rapist's 12-year prison sentence. The spectators were in support of a reduced sentence.
Those found in contempt of court spent a night behind bars before the state Supreme Court granted an emergency writ to release them pending a Nov. 23 hearing. Sanchez dismissed the charges at that hearing.
Sanchez apologized to the justices but said he had to control people in the gallery that he claimed were "yelling and screaming" at him and the rape victim.
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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.