Subrogation Interest of Workers’ Compensation Insurer Must Be Protected Under Texas Law

The Supreme Court said in Texas Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ledbetter, 251 S.W.3d 31 (Tex. 2008) :

“When an injured worker settles a case without reimbursing a compensation carrier, everyone involved is liable to the carrier for conversion – the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs’ attorney, and the defendants. As between those parties, we have held that generally those who received the funds unlawfully (the plaintiffs and their attorney) should disgorge them rather than making the tortfeasors pay twice.”

In this case, plaintiff’s attorney attempted to manipulate a settlement by dismissing all claims in a death case, except for the claims of the deceased’s estate. The Court ordered that the carrier’s intervention be reinstated. It also remanded the case with instructions for the trial court to protect the carrier’s subrogation interests.

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

Medical Treatment Guidelines

Medical treatment guidelines are a delicate balance. Guidelines that are too restrictive may control costs in the short term, but limit necessary medical care to injured workers, who suffer unnecessarily, while outcomes fail to improve. Non-productive UR costs skyrocket when denials and friction clog the system, as good providers stop taking workers’ comp patients because they can’t get necessary medical care approved. Guidelines that are not restrictive enough, on the other hand, have little net effect. While ODG is unique in striving for and generally achieving this balance based on a thorough and ongoing review of the medical evidence, we still think it is important to allow for the possibility of exceptions.  When and how those exceptions should be handled, together with explicit case study examples, providing the framework to ensure timely and appropriate medical care, should be clearly  illustrated even for the unconventional injured worker.

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

Texas Case on Chronic Depression and the A.D.A.–Texas Employment Law

Chronic depression alone doesn’t necessarily mean an employee is disabled within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Granting summary judgment for the Defendant Employer, the court found that the employee failed to establish that she was “disabled” within the meaning of the ADA. The definition of “disability” under the ADA requires (1) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities; (2) a record of such impairment or, (3) being regarded as having such an impairment.

Bethel v. Garland, City of, Northern District of Texas No. 3-96-CV-1103-BD, September 11, 1997.

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

 

 

Workers’ Compensation Insurance Coverage for Texas Employers: Know the Texas Law–TDI

 

Workers’ compensation insurance coverage provides covered employees with income and medical benefits if they sustain a work-related injury or illness. Except as otherwise provided by law; Texas private employers can choose whether or not to provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage for their employees. Except in cases of gross negligence or an intentional act or omission of the employer, workers’ compensation insurance limits an employer’s liability if an employee brings suit against the employer for damages. Certain building or construction employers who contract with governmental entities are required to provide workers’ compensation coverage for each employee working on the public project. Some clients may also require their contractors to have workers’ compensation insurance. Providing Workers’ Compensation Insurance If employers choose to provide workers’ compensation, they must do so in one of the following ways:

• purchase a workers’ compensation insurance policy from an insurance company licensed by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) to sell the coverage in Texas;

• be certified by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) to self-insure workers’ compensation claims; or

• join a self-insurance group that has received a certificate of approval from the TDI. Note: Political subdivisions may self-insure, buy coverage from insurance companies, or enter into inter-local agreements with other political subdivisions that self-insure. EMPLOYER RIGHTS Covered employers have the following rights:

• the right to contest the compensability of a workers’ compensation claim if the insurance carrier accepts liability for payment of benefits;

• the right to be notified of a proposal to settle a claim or of any administrative or judicial proceeding related to resolution of a claim (after making a written request to the insurance carrier);

• the right to attend dispute resolution proceedings related to an employee’s claim and present relevant evidence about the disputed issues; • the right to report suspected fraud to the TDI-DWC or to the insurance carrier;

• the right to contest the failure of the insurance carrier to provide required accident prevention services; and

• the right to receive return-to-work coordination services as necessary to facilitate an employee’s return to employment.

To dispute a workers’ compensation claim, an employer may file the DWC Form-004, and the DWC Form-045, Request to Schedule, Reschedule or Cancel a Benefit Review Conference (BRC), which may be obtained from the TDI website at http://www.tdi.texas.gov/forms/ form20employer.html or by calling 1-800-252-7031. Non-Reimbursable Employer Payments An employer is not entitled to and cannot seek reimbursement from the employee or insurance carrier if after a work-related injury or illness they voluntarily:

• continue to pay the injured employee’s salary continuation; or

• pay the injured employee salary supplementation to supplement income benfits paid by the insurance carrier. Employer Voluntary Payments of Benefits An employer may voluntarily pay income or medical benefits to an employee during a period in which the insurance carrier has: • contested compensability of the injury;

• contested liability for the injury; or

• has not completed its initial investigation of the injury. Note: an employer is only allowed to pay benefits in this situation for the first two weeks after the injury. For reimbursement, the employer is required to timely report the injury to the insurance carrier and to let the insurance carrier know, within 7 days of beginning voluntary payments, that voluntary payments are being made. The insurance carrier is only required to reimburse the employer for the amount of benefits the insurance carrier would have paid. If the employer made payments in excess of what the insurance carrier would have paid, the excess amount is not reimbursable, unless there is a written agreement between the injured employee and the employer that the excess amount can be recouped from future impairment income benefits paid by the insurance carrier, if any. The employer must file the DWC Form- 002, Employer’s Report for Reimbursement of Voluntary Payment. The DWC Form-002 may be obtained from the TDI website at http://www.tdi.texas.gov/forms/ form20employer.html or by calling 1-800-252-7031.

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation Recovers More than $500,000 For Injured Employees and Beneficiaries

AUSTIN, TX –The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) conducted performance audits of several insurance carriers on the accuracy of payments of Lifetime Income Benefits (LIBs) and Death Benefits (DBs). Through these audits, DWC discovered underpayments on 64 claims totaling over $511,000.

“One of my chief compliance priorities is to make sure injured employees and beneficiaries obtain benefits in a timely and accurate manner,” said Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Ryan Brannan. “I am pleased to see that claimants received monies owed to them. However, I am concerned there may be other deserving claimants in the same situation. These results indicate that we need to continue these types of performance audits.”

The primary focus of these performance audits was to ensure compliance with Labor Code §408.081 which provides that an insurance carrier must pay income benefits accurately. The proper calculations of average weekly wage, LIBs, and DBs are detailed in Labor Code §§408.041, 408.161, and 408.181, and in 28 TAC §§128.1, 128.3, 131.2, and 132.1.

Common compliance errors discovered in these performance audits that contributed to the underpayment of benefits included:

  • Failure to pay 75% of average weekly wage
  • Failure to obtain a complete wage statement
  • Failure to properly calculate average weekly wage
  • Failure to include non-pecuniary wages in average weekly wage

The TDI-DWC conducts performance audits every year and a list can be found at http://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/pbo/index.html#ai .  For more information on performance audits, please contact Darrell Cooper at 512-804-4768 or Darrell.Cooper@tdi.texas.gov.

 

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

 

Honest Conviction is My Courage; the Constitution is My Guide

QUOTES ON LIBERTY AND JUSTICE, TRUTH AND DUTY:

 

 

“History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.” 1807

-Thomas Jefferson 

 

“An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity.”

-Haile Selassie, Ethiopian Emperor 

 

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”

-Gerald Ford

 

“The era of big government is over.”  State of the Union Address, January 23, 1996

-Bill Clinton

 

“The old man was a good man, he raised his children right.  He taught us how to work hard and showed us how to fight. He told me about the good Lord and when to use a gun. He made me very proud of where it is that I come from… I might not make a history book but I’ll burn a page or two…. and I may not change the world but I’m going to leave a scar.”

-Charles Starr

 

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation.” Speech, Virginia Convention, 1788

– James Madison 

 

“The Washington Government was fast drifting towards centralization….”

-M.F. Maury

 

“The Washington politicians are right, there are two Americas. The America that works and the America that doesn’t. The America that contributes and the America that doesn’t. It’s not the haves and the have nots, it’s the dos and the don’ts. Some people do their duty as Americans, obey the law, support themselves, contribute to society and others don’t. That’s the divide in America . It’s not about income inequality, it’s about civic irresponsibility. It’s about politicians that preach hatred, greed and victimization in order to win elective office. It’s about politicians that love power more than they love their country. That’s not invective, that’s truth, and it’s about time someone said it.”

-Lou Holtz

 

“This administration is pledged to a Federal revenue system that balances the budget over the years of the economic cycle – yielding surpluses for debt retirement in times of high employment that more than offset the deficits which accompany – and indeed help overcome – low levels of economic activity in poor years…Debt retirement at high employment contributes to economic growth by releasing savings for productive investment by private enterprise and State and local governments.” Special Message to the Congress: Program for Economic Recovery and Growth, February 2, 1961

-John F. Kennedy

 

“That road to V-E Day was hard and long, and traveled by weary and valiant men. And history will always record where that road began. It began here, with the first footprints on the beaches of Normandy.” In Normandy to mark the 60th anniversary, June 6, 2004

-George W. Bush

 

“Honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide.”

-Andrew Johnson

 

“It (the mass murder of Armenian Christians by the Turks)  was not war. It was most certainly massacre and genocide, something the world must remember… We will always reject any attempt to erase its record, even for some political advantage.” April 27, 1994 on the floor of the Knesset in response to a TV interview of the Turkish Ambassador

-Yossi Beilini, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister

 

“We dared not refuse to hear the call to arms, so plain was the duty and so urgent the call. Brethren and friends were answering the bugle-call and the sound of the drum…to stay was dishonor and shame”

-Carlton McCarthy

 

“I recall a Union soldier lying near the Dunker Church with his face turned upward, and his pocket Bible open upon his breast. I lifted the volume and read the words: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.’ Upon the fly-leaf were the words, ‘We hope and pray that you may be permitted by kind Providence, after the war is over, to return.” Antietam Scenes, Battles and Leaders. Vol II

-Charles Carlton Coffin, Army Correspondent, Boston Journal 

 

“The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.”

-John Adams

 

“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”

-General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander, General of the U.S. Army

 

“It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellowmen.”

-George E. MacDonald, Scottish Novelist

 

“In every declining civilization there is a small ―remnant‖ of people who adhere to the right against the wrong; who recog-nize the difference between good and evil and who will take an active stand for the former and against the latter; who can still think and discern and who will courageously take a stand against the political, social, moral, and spiritual rot or decay of their day.” Toward a New World Order, 1992

-Donald S. McAlvaney, Switzerland

 

“The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government.”

-Noah Webster

 

“Public opinion: May it always perform one of its appropriate offices, by teaching the public functionaries of the State and of the Federal Government, that neither shall assume the exercise of powers entrusted by the Constitution to the other.”

-James Knox Polk

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

 

Federal Jury Reaches $391 Million Verdict Against Trustee for Pre-Need Funeral Contract Trusts

A St. Louis federal jury has awarded $391 million, including $35.5 million in punitive damages, against PNC Bank following a five-week jury trial.

The plaintiffs were the Special Deputy Receiver (SDR), Jo Ann Howard and Associates, appointed by the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Insurance; the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA) on behalf of 28 state guaranty associations, and the state guaranty associations of Missouri, Texas, Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky.

The SDR, NOLHGA and the state guaranty associations joined forces to pursue breach of fiduciary duty and negligence claims against PNC, which was the successor to Allegiant Bank and Trust Company, a St. Louis-based bank that had served as a trustee for multiple pre-need funeral trusts.

“This has been a superb team effort with the guaranty associations.  We are very pleased with the jury’s award,” said David Mattax, the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Texas.

Peter Gallanis, president of NOLHGA, said, “We are proud that the guaranty associations have met their obligations to ensure that the consumer losses were covered.  The jury’s verdict is the next step in the process.”

Thousands of consumers and multiple funeral homes had entered into contracts with a company known as National Prearranged Services (NPS), which was run by a number of individuals who were indicted and convicted of fraud.  NPS sold pre-need funeral contracts initially in Missouri and used two affiliated Texas-based life insurance companies to back the pre-need funeral contracts.  In 2008, NPS and the two insurance companies were placed in receivership in Austin, Texas.  The SDR and state guaranty association system worked together to ensure that thousands of funerals were paid for.  Since 2008, the guaranty associations have paid more than $300 million for in excess of 50,000 funerals in 40 states.  The guaranty associations will pay for all covered future funerals, which will be additional millions of dollars.

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

Law and Liberty Must First Become the Objects of Our Knowledge

QUOTES ON LIBERTY AND JUSTICE, TRUTH AND DUTY:

 

 

“Many of our troubles are due to the fact that our people turn to politicians for everything.”

-Margaret Thatcher

 

“Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master.”

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

“Is it not the glory of the people of America, that whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience? To this manly spirit, posterity will be indebted for the possession, and the world for the example of the numerous innovations displayed on the American theatre, in favor of private rights and public happiness.” Federalist No. 14, November 30, 1787

-James Madison

 

‘We must fight for our rights and privileges under a government established over us by our fathers and in defense of our homes.”

-R. Henry Lee

 

“They wanted to be throwing baseballs, not hand grenades, shooting .22’s at rabbits, not M-1’s at other men.  But when the test came, when freedom had to be fought for or abandoned, they fought.  They were the soldiers of democracy.  They were the men of D-Day.”

-Stephen Ambrose

 

“We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” The Abolition of Man

-C.S. Lewis 

 

“There is more than a germ of truth in the suggestion that, in a society where statisticians thrive, liberty and individuality are likely to be emasculated.”

-M.J. Moroney

 

“Private property is a natural fruit of labor, a product of intense activity of man, acquired through his energetic determination to ensure and develop with his own strength his own existence and that of his family, and to create for himself and his own an existence of just freedom, not only economic, but also political, cultural and religious.”

-Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII)

 

“Law and liberty cannot rationally become the objects of our love, unless they first become the objects of our knowledge.”

-James Wilson

 

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

“It is a remarkable fact that States reduced by war are apt to experience the extinction of their literature the decay of mind and the loss of their distinctive forms of thought Nor is such a condition inconsistent with a gross material prosperity that often grows upon the bloody crust of war. When Greece fell under the Roman yoke she experienced a prosperity she had never known before. It was an era rank with wealth and material improvement. But her literature became extinct or emasculated the distinctive forms of her art disappeared and her mind once the peerless light of the world waned into an obscurity from which it never emerged.”

-Ed Pollard

 

“Liberty is not a means to a political end. It is itself the highest political end.”

-Lord Acton

 

“Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property.”

-Lysander Spooner

 

“In order to get power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness but with qualities that are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, and cruelty.”

-Leo Tolstoy

 

“Yet, nearly 6 decades after the Holocaust concluded, Anti-Semitism still exists as the scourge of the world.”

-Eliot Engel

 

“What is compelling about the Armenian Christian genocide by the Turks is how it has been forgotten.”

-Atom Egoyan

 

“You can run on for a long time, sooner or later God will cut you down…Go tell that long tongue liar, go and tell that midnight rider, tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter…Tell them that God is going to cut them down.”

-John Cash

 

“The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among freemen.”

-James Buchanan

 

“And I asked myself the question, – What am I to gain? Whom or what am I struggling for? Are Liberty and Independence myths? If I fall who outside of my immediate relations will miss me? Who will thank me for periling my life? There is but one answer to all these, -“Follow what thy conscience tells me to go on.”

 

-W.O. Connor

 

“For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory….”

-Zachary Taylor

 

“That you and my children may enjoy the blessings of freedom is my first wish. My first duty is to do my part in securing these.”

– David M. Key

 

“Among the misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.” Gandhi, An Autobiography

-Mahatma Gandhi

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

 

The Public Information Act and Texas Law on Obtaining Government Records of Texas Department of Insurance

Texas Government Code, Chapter 552, gives Texas businesses and individuals the right to access government records; and an officer for public information and the officer’s agent may not ask why you want them. All government information is presumed to be available to the public. Certain exceptions may apply to the disclosure of the information. Governmental bodies shall promptly release requested information that is not confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision, or information for which an exception to disclosure has not been sought.

Request Information

To request information from TDI, please submit your request as follows:

By mail to:
Office of Agency Counsel
Texas Department of Insurance
P.O. Box 149104, Mail Code 110-1C
Austin, Texas 78714-9104

By e-mail to:
AgencyCounsel@tdi.texas.gov

By fax to:
(512) 490-1021

In person at:
333 Guadalupe
Austin, Texas 78701

For complaints regarding failure to release public information, please contact your local County or District Attorney at:

  • Office of the Attorney General, Open Records Hotline, at 512-478-6736 or toll-free at 1-877-673-6839.
  • Complaints Regarding Overcharges, please contact the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497.

If you need special accommodation pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please contact our ADA coordinator at (512) 676-6103.

Rights of Requestors


You have the right to:

  • Prompt access to information that is not confidential or otherwise protected;
  • Receive treatment equal to all other requestors, including accommodation in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements;
  • Receive certain kinds of information without exceptions, like the voting record of public officials, and other information;
  • Receive a written itemized statement of estimated charges, when charges will exceed $40, in advance of work being started and opportunity to modify the request in response to the itemized statement;
  • Choose whether to inspect the requested information (most often at no charge), receive copies of the information or both;
  • A waiver or reduction of charges if the governmental body determines that access to the information primarily benefits the general public;
  • Receive a copy of the communication from the governmental body asking the Office of the Attorney General for a ruling on whether the information can be withheld under one of the accepted exceptions, or if the communication discloses the requested information, a redacted copy;
  • Lodge a written complaint about overcharges for public information with the Office of the Attorney General. Complaints of other possible violations may be filed with the county or district attorney of the county where the governmental body, other than a state agency, is located. If the complaint is against the county or district attorney, the complaint must be filed with the Office of the Attorney General.

Responsibilities of Governmental Bodies

All governmental bodies responding to information requests have the responsibility to:

  • Establish reasonable procedures for inspecting or copying public information and inform requestors of these procedures;
  • Treat all requestors uniformly and shall give to the requestor all reasonable comfort and facility, including accommodation in accordance with ADA requirements;
  • Be informed about open records laws and educate employees on the requirements of those laws;
  • Inform requestors of the estimated charges greater than $40 and any changes in the estimates above 20 percent of the original estimate, and confirm that the requestor accepts the charges, or has amended the request, in writing before finalizing the request;
  • Inform the requestor if the information cannot be provided promptly and set a date and time to provide it within a reasonable time;
  • Request a ruling from the Office of the Attorney General regarding any information the governmental body wishes to withhold, and send a copy of the request for ruling, or a redacted copy, to the requestor;
  • Segregate public information from information that may be withheld and provide that public information promptly;
  • Make a good faith attempt to inform third parties when their proprietary information is being requested from the governmental body;
  • Respond in writing to all written communications from the Office of the Attorney General regarding charges for the information and complaints about violations of the Act.

Procedures to Request Information

  1. Submit a request by mail, fax, email or in person according to a governmental body’s reasonable procedures.
  2. Include enough description and detail about the information requested to enable the governmental body to accurately identify and locate the information requested.
  3. Cooperate with the governmental body’s reasonable efforts to clarify the type or amount of information requested.

A. Information to be released

  • You may review it promptly, and if it cannot be produced within 10 working days the public information officer will notify you in writing of the reasonable date and time when it will be available.
  • Keep all appointments to inspect records and to pick up copies. Failure to keep appointments may result in losing the opportunity to inspect the information at the time requested.

B. Cost of Records

  • You must respond to any written estimate of charges within 10 days of the date the governmental body sent it or the request is considered automatically withdrawn.
  • If estimated costs exceed $100.00 (or $50.00 if a governmental body has fewer than 16 full time employees) the governmental body may require a bond, prepayment or deposit.
  • You may ask the governmental body to determine whether providing the information primarily benefits the general public, resulting in a waiver or reduction of charges.
  • Make a timely payment for all mutually agreed charges. A governmental body can demand payment of overdue balances exceeding $100.00, or obtain a security deposit, before processing additional requests from you.

C. Information that may be withheld due to an exception

  • By the 10th business day after a governmental body receives your written request, a governmental body must:
    1. Request an Attorney General opinion and state which exceptions apply;
    2. Notify the requestor of the referral to the Attorney General; and
    3. Notify third parties if the request involves their proprietary information.
  • Failure to request an Attorney General opinion and notify the requestor within 10 business days will result in a presumption that the information is open unless there is a compelling reason to withhold it.
  • Requestors may send a letter to the Attorney General arguing for release, and may review arguments made by the governmental body. If the arguments disclose the requested information, the requestor may obtain a redacted copy.
  • The Attorney General must issue a decision no later than the 45th working day from the day after the attorney general received the request for a decision. The attorney general may request an additional 10 working day extension.
  • Governmental bodies may not ask the Attorney General to “reconsider” an opinion.

 

For more information contact: AgencyCounsel@tdi.texas.gov

 

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]

The Main Federal EEO Laws That Apply to Texas Employers–Texas Employment Law

The six major federal (Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws that apply to Texas employers:

 

  1. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII);
  2. Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866;
  3. The Equal Pay Act of 1963;
  4. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA);
  5. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986; and
  6. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

Williams, McClure & Parmelee is dedicated to high quality legal representation of businesses and insurance companies in a variety of matters. We are experienced Texas civil litigation attorneys based in Fort Worth who know Texas courts and Texas law. For more information, please contact the law firm at 817-335-8800. The firm’s new office location is 5601 Bridge Street, Suite 300, Fort Worth, Texas 76112.

Martindale AVtexas[2]