Foe of 10 Commandments judge loses license
Notable Attorneys
A key figure in the case that ousted Alabama's Ten Commandments judge has had his law license suspended over a complaint filed by a client.
Stephen Glassroth's license was suspended by the Alabama Bar Association after he did not respond to a complaint that he failed to represent lawyer Dana Jill Simpson, who had hired him to defend her in a tax case.
Glassroth drew the ire of many in Alabama when he filed a lawsuit in 2001 to force Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the state Judicial Building. Moore ignored a court order to remove the monument, and Glassroth succeeded in getting him expelled from office in 2003.
Simpson, who has said she worked on Moore's judicial campaign, did not return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. Glassroth did not return a call to his Georgia home seeking comment.
Simpson made the news in the summer of 2007 when she testified before the House Judiciary Committee, claiming that GOP operatives pushed for the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat. Simpson told the committee she learned of the effort when she worked on the 2002 campaign of Alabama's current Republican governor, Bob Riley, who beat Siegelman in his bid for re-election that year.
Siegelman was convicted of federal charges of taking a bribe from former HealthSouth Corp. CEO Richard Scrushy in exchange for a seat on a state medical regulatory board. Siegelman's appeal of the conviction is scheduled to be heard Tuesday in Atlanta.
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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.