Howell v. Texas Workers' Compensation Commission

OPINION

JAN P. PATTERSON, Justice.

In this case, we must decide whether, when a health care provider provides medical treatment to a workers’ compensation claimant and subsequently disputes the adequacy of payment by a workers’ compensation insurance carrier, the health care provider must first exhaust administrative remedies within the workers’ compensation system before seeking to resolve the dispute in a court. We must also determine whether, after one party files a declaratory judgment action in a Travis County district court, that court obtains jurisdiction to grant a counterclaimant’s…