Class Action Challenges Mandatory Electronic Filing
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Questions regarding whether LexisNexis Courtlink is licensed to do business in Georgia and the location of its registered agent prompted attorney Steven J. Newton to amend his complaint against the company and Fulton County State and Superior Court officials. Newton filed the federal class-action in June, claiming LexisNexis Courtlink and the court officials are running an illegal, mandatory, electronic filing system.
Newton contends that filings in Fulton County State and Superior Courts, filed through the LexisNexis File & Serve system, can cost up to $11 per filing in cases for which electronic filing is mandated by orders from Fulton County State and Superior Courts, and authorized by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.
Shortly after filing the complaint in June, Newton said he realized the location of the registered agent of LexisNexis Courtlink had changed since he filed the original lawsuit in December 2007.
Newton withdrew his original lawsuit in March. He said that defendants' attorneys told him that LexisNexis Courtlink no longer existed in Georgia. After checking the Secretary of State Web site, Newton said, he saw that LexisNexis Courtlink had filed a certificate of withdrawal on Jan. 15, and was no longer licensed to do business in Georgia.
But Newton said the company continues to do business in Georgia, as he still receives invoices from it, and the company recently conducted training sessions in Atlanta. So, Newton said, he amended the first complaint to state that LexisNexis Courtlink can be served at the Atlanta address where it held training, or in Newton, Mass.
Attorneys for the defendants have requested more time to respond to the amended complaint. Newton said no additional time should be granted.
"It's pretty much the same complaint I filed (months ago,)" he said.
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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.