8/13/2023 0 Comments Ags tracking salt lake city![]() The revelations in the Garlock case also inspired companies including General Motors, Ford and Honeywell to make their own demands for trust records on payouts to workers who might have already received benefits from employer insurance or workers’ comp. ![]() The AGs cite the cases of several named individual claimants, suggesting they have been combing through the Garlock files. The states cite the case of Garlock Sealing Technologies, a North Carolina company that convinced a judge to probe into the practices of asbestos attorneys after uncovering evidence they engineered claims to recover money from trusts before filing lawsuits against solvent companies, often claiming work histories that conflicted with documents they filed with the trusts. ![]() “Given this an area of law where courts have created equitable rules that protect first-party carriers, it’s perfect reasonable to try and expand the doctrine,” Baker said. In its case, Utah says lax claims requirements allow the trusts to pay out too much to current asbestos claimants, leaving the trusts depleted and unable to pay for future medical expenses, which then fall upon the states.Ĭourts have forced insurance companies to reimburse Medicare for medical expenses when they pay accident settlements directly to plaintiffs and can’t collect the money directly from the recipients, said Thomas Baker, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and expert on insurance law. No one from the Utah AG's office would comment. In a typical example, Massachusetts last year announced it had settled with Wyeth for $68 million as part of multistate litigation over Medicaid rebates that generated $785 million in settlements nationwide. The lawsuit represents an interesting gambit by conservative state AGs, who are borrowing a tactic most often used by more liberal states to recover money from pharmaceutical manufacturers they accuse of running up Medicare and Medicaid bills. ![]() Because they represent claimants seeking money from the trusts while also collecting tens of millions and dollars in contingency fees from settlements paid by those trusts, Utah said, the governance structure creates “problematic incentives” that result in “lax requirements for claims.” A representative of Weitz & Luxenberg didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trust Advisory Committees that govern the funds are dominated by plaintiff lawyers from a few prominent firms including New York’s Weitz & Luxenberg and Baron & Budd in Dallas. “The federal law is explicitly clear: When there’s a settlement, Medicare must be reimbursed,” said Quesada. Penalties can include double damages and even plaintiff attorneys can be liable, said Frank Qesada, an attorney with MSP Recovery, a Miami law firm that has filed numerous national class actions on behalf of private Medicare providers. legal system and said his tie to the office of the state’s top law enforcer won’t stand in the way of justice.The AGs cite the Medicare Secondary Payer law, a little used federal statute that carries stiff penalties for insurers and others who arrange for lawsuit settlements to be paid directly to claimants without making sure they first settle outstanding bills for Medicare coverage. It also noted Bell is considered innocent until proven guilty in the U.S. He faces five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.Īt the time of Bell’s arrest, the Attorney General’s Office said it works diligently to fight the kinds of sexual exploitation he’s accused of. His lawyer John Kwarm didn’t return a Wednesday message seeking comment.Ī judge in Provo ordered Bell’s release from jail on Tuesday. He was arrested two weeks ago after Utah County Sheriff’s deputies say they traced uploads of explicit images of a girl 6-8 years old to his IP address. Bell may have interacted with kids and teens in the course of his work, Piatt added, but only with at least one other adult present. ![]() The job typically doesn’t involve working closely with children, Piatt said. Former sex crimes prosecutor arrested for child porn in Utah Countyīell worked in a Utah AG’s Office division that handles child welfare cases. ![]()
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