Longview police officer suing Texas Municipal League risk pool - KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports

Longview police officer suing Texas Municipal League risk pool

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LONGVIEW/GREGG COUNTY (KYTX) - A Longview police officer has filed a statewide class-action suit in federal court, challenging the Texas Municipal League's Intergovernmental Risk Pool's right to seize a portion of his third-party settlement following an on-the-job wreck in April.

Jose Montalvo is a 2011 Officer of the Year winner and 2012 Officer of the Year nominee for the Longview Police Department. In April, he was seriously injured when a Dodge Ram truck driven by Mette Hocher of Kilgore ran a red light and hit Montalvo's patrol car on Loop 281 and McCann Road. The impact sent the patrol car into the air before landing in a nearby ditch, witnesses told investigators.

Montalvo was hospitalized but has since returned to active duty.

Montalvo used about $6,000 in workers' compensation benefits during recovery from the TML's Intergovernmental Risk Pool, according to his attorney, James Holmes of Henderson. He reached a settlement with the other driver for $30,000, but TML charged Montalvo $8,600, including about $2,600 for case management. In a federal lawsuit filed Oct. 12 in a federal court in Marshall, Holmes contends that the TML should not charge Montalvo for case managers who provide no medical treatment but instead protect the insurer from loss.
Montalvo claims he was deprived of his property rights in violation of the 5th Amendment and his rights under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.

According to the lawsuit, in the last four years TMLIRP has paid more than $13 million to case management companies for administrative services and has recouped more than $8 million in subrogation recoveries taken from class members' third party settlement.

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