Los Angeles Dodgers file for bankruptcy
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The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming Major League Baseball for rejecting a television deal with Fox Network to give the storied baseball team an urgent injection of cash.
Monday's filing marks a dramatic attempt by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt to keep the league and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig from seizing the team, which McCourt has owned since 2004.
In a court filing, the team said it had been "on the verge of running out of cash" but that the Chapter 11 filing will allow it to meet payroll, sign players, pay vendors and continue playing baseball.
McCourt has been struggling to meet payroll and other financial commitments, having been heavily in debt and locked in a bitter divorce battle with his estranged wife Jamie. The bankruptcy could lead to new ownership for the Dodgers.
"The filing preserves the status quo and prevents baseball from invoking its powers to take control," said Jack Williams, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta who specializes in sports law. "Major League Baseball will have a major, if not the predominant, voice in the ultimate ownership structure for the team."
On June 20, the league vetoed the Dodgers' proposed $3 billion, 17-year television contract with News Corp's Fox, saying it would not be in the best interests of the team, the game and fans.
Selig criticized the use of part of a $385 million upfront payment to fund McCourt's divorce. McCourt has said the payment was crucial to the Dodgers' financial health.
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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.