ON LEGAL

August 24, 2022

Arkansas officer suspended over caught-on-camera arrest had alleged history of excessive force, attorney says

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One of the three Arkansas law enforcement officers suspended after a video posted on social media showed two of them pummeling a man while a third held him on the ground had previously received a complaint for alleged excessive use of force, an attorney said.

Arkansas State Police and the federal government have said they are investigating the circumstances of a police stop on Sunday, when officers were responding to a report of a man making threats outside a convenience store in the small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles northwest of Little Rock.

State police identified the suspect as Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, South Carolina. The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office identified the three officers as Crawford County deputies Zack King and Levi White and Mulberry police officer Thell Riddle.

Meanwhile, Carrie Jernigan, an attorney representing Worcester, said she had filed an excessive force complaint against one of the suspended officers on behalf of another client of hers about a month ago, according to The Associated Press.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INVESTIGATING ‘REPREHENSIBLE’ ARKANSAS POLICE BEATING CAUGHT ON CAMERA: GOV. HUTCHINSON

Randal Worcester departs from the Crawford County Justice Center in Van Buren, Ark.

Randal Worcester departs from the Crawford County Justice Center in Van Buren, Ark.
(AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)

“To date, I had not heard anything back. But the description of what happened to my client in July versus that video seemed almost identical,” Jernigan said. “And so we’re just of the position it didn’t have to even take place yesterday.”

Jernigan did not identify the officer involved. Representatives from the sheriff’s office and police department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for information related to the report.

A spokesperson for the Arkansas State Police would not comment on Tuesday.

Video that circulated on Sunday showed one officer punching the

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August 24, 2022 by ATTORNEY

New Yorkers facing health insurance rate increases in January

ALBANY — Many New Yorkers can expect their health insurance rates to rise an average of about 9 percent in January.

The state Department of Financial Services, which has regulatory oversight of the rates that health insurers charge, released details of the new rates on Wednesday.

For people who work at companies with 100 or fewer employees, the average rate hike will be 7.9 percent, while the individual commercial marketplace increases are slightly higher at 9.7 percent.

That covers about 1.1 million workers in the state, about 10 percent of the total workforce. The majority of large employers are self-insured, meaning they manage health care costs for their employees directly. Others get their insurance through government programs.

Health insurers in the Capital Region and elsewhere in New York were requesting much higher rate increases than what the DFS approved.

For instance, CDPHP, a major local health insurer, requested a 17.4 percent increase for its small company clients but was only approved for an 11.5 percent increase.

MVP, another local health insurer, requested a 14.2 percent increase for its small company plans but was granted an increase of 11.7 percent.

Those increases are for what companies pay so some companies may choose to pass on all the increases to their workers.

Rates on plans for individuals buying insurance directly are generally more expensive, and the rate increases are higher.

For instance, CDPHP requested a 28.4 percent increase in individual plans and received a 16.5 percent increase from DFS.

Although these are significant increases that will pinch average workers, DFS says its decisions on rates kept health insurer profits to half of 1 percent, which it said was “historically low” compared to previous years.

The agency says it saved customers nearly $800 million in potential rate increases that would have cost

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August 24, 2022 by INSURANCE

Hearing begins challenging gov’t stance on legal aid for poor women

The Single Mothers Alliance launched the constitutional case five years ago saying eligibility for legal aid doesn’t meet the needs of low-income women.

A three-day hearing has begun in the BC Supreme Court, with a group challenging the <a href=provincial government‘s stance that it doesn’t have the capacity to take a case regarding legal aid to trial.” class=”featured-image__image type:primaryImage” height=”750″ src=”https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/vancouversun/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/decorative-scales-of-justice-in-the-courtroom-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216″ srcset=”https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/vancouversun/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/decorative-scales-of-justice-in-the-courtroom-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216, https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/vancouversun/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/decorative-scales-of-justice-in-the-courtroom-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=576&h=432 2x” width=”1000″/
A three-day hearing has begun in the BC Supreme Court, with a group challenging the provincial government’s stance that it doesn’t have the capacity to take a case regarding legal aid to trial. Photolia

A three-day hearing has begun in the BC Supreme Court, with a group challenging the provincial government’s stance that it doesn’t have the capacity to take a case regarding legal aid to trial.

The Single Mothers Alliance launched the constitutional case five years ago saying eligibility for legal aid doesn’t meet the needs of low-income women, especially those escaping domestic violence.

The alliance is being represented by West Coast Leaf, whose executive director says eligibility requirements are problematic because single mothers must earn about $29,000 for a two-person household to qualify for legal aid.

Raji Mangat says that means many working mothers must represent themselves in what is essentially a “broken” system, leaving some retraumatized because they could be cross-examined by a former partner’s lawyer.

The Attorney General’s Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mangat says women who are working full-time and earning minimum wage can end up being treated like they have disposable income to spend on legal fees while having to take time off to be in court.

“When you factor in the fact that we’re talking about cases involving family violence, the stakes are high,” she said.

“The abusive ex is typically somebody

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August 24, 2022 by LEGAL
August 2022
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