Court upholds murder conviction in toddler's death
Recent Cases
Georgia's top court has unanimously upheld the murder convictions and life prison sentences given to a metro Atlanta couple for strangling and beating to death the woman's young daughter.
The Georgia Supreme Court's decision on Monday involved the December 2008 death of Makayla Mack, who was 2 ½ when she was taken to the hospital.
An autopsy revealed she had hair loss, bruises and other signs of abuse, and Coweta County prosecutors charged Thomasina Mack and DeMario Steven Smith with her death.
The two were tried jointly in April 2010 and the jury found them guilty of murder and cruelty to children, sentencing them both to life in prison. Both appealed, but the Georgia Supreme Court's opinion found the evidence was sufficient to find them "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
Related listings
-
Colo. court weighs energy leases near Utah parks
Recent Cases 01/20/2012A federal appeals court must decide if the Obama administration gave energy companies sufficient notice that it was scrapping oil and gas leases auctioned off near national parks in Utah in the closing days of the Bush presidency. The sale near Arche...
-
Court lets telemarketers be sued in federal court
Recent Cases 01/18/2012The Supreme Court is keeping telemarketers and other businesses on the hook for nuisance phone calls, letting those annoyed by the disruptions sue in federal as well as state courts. The high court's decision Wednesday involves a lawsuit claiming a d...
-
Court orders new psychiatric review of Breivik
Recent Cases 01/13/2012A Norwegian court on Friday ordered a new psychiatric evaluation of confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, after an earlier report found him legally insane. Judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen said in Oslo the new evaluation is necessary considerin...
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.