Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

United States: Missouri Insurer Allowed to Intervene in Employee’s Third-Party Civil Action
Posted on 22 May 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Stressing that allowing a workers’ compensation insurer to intervene in a third-party civil action filed by an injured worker against the purported tortfeasor would not cause delay and would not necessarily cause confusion among potential jurors... Read More

United States: Injured Colorado Employee May Not Pursue Recovery Under Employer’s Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Posted on 16 Jun 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

In a case of first impression, a federal court sitting in Colorado, construing Colorado law, held that an employee injured in a work-related vehicle accident may not recover under his or her employer’s uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. The... Read More

Illinois: Description of Injury in Workers’ Compensation Settlement Agreement Did Not Bar Later Third-Party Claim for Additional Injuries
Posted on 8 Feb 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where plaintiff, a semi-truck driver for a Pennsylvania corporation, sustained injuries in a vehicular accident in Grundy County, Illinois and eventually settled his Pennsylvania workers’ compensation claim by means of a settlement agreement in... Read More

North Carolina: Attorney’s Fees in 3rd Party Actions Limited to One-Third of Injured Employee’s Recovery
Posted on 8 Aug 2013 by Larson's Spotlight

While the North Carolina Industrial Commission does not have jurisdiction to determine the reasonableness of attorney’s fees in third-party negligence cases involving the rights of an injured worker vis-à-vis the subrogation interests of... Read More

Delaware: Affiliation Between Insurance Companies Is Insufficient to Block Insurer’s Right to Join in Third-Party Action
Posted on 25 Jul 2014 by Larson's Spotlight

A Delaware court has allowed the employer’s workers’ compensation insurer to intervene in a personal injury action filed by an injured employee against the firm that provided janitorial services to the employer, finding that the insurer has... Read More

Massachusetts: Insurer’s Lien Does Not Reach Injured Worker’s Damages for Pain and Suffering in Third-Party Action
Posted on 7 Nov 2014 by Larson's Spotlight

Relying upon an earlier decision [(Curry v. Great Am. Ins. Co., 80 Mass. App. Ct. 592 (2011)], a Massachusetts appellate court held that the workers’ compensation insurer’s lien under G. L. c. 152, § 15, does not reach the damages for... Read More

Missouri: Commission Exceeded Authority in Ordering Subrogation Payment
Posted on 10 Apr 2015 by Larson's Spotlight

A Missouri appellate court held that the state’s Industrial Relations Commission’s power to order an employee (and his spouse) to repay some $41,000 in medical benefits following the successful settlement of a third-party civil action for... Read More

Wisconsin: Trial Court Can Compel Injured Employee to Accept Settlement of Third-Party Civil Action
Posted on 25 Jul 2014 by Larson's Spotlight

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin affirmed a decision compelling a plaintiff/injured employee to accept a settlement offered in a third-party civil action he had filed against an alleged tortfeasor. The employee, who worked for the Village of Fontana, had... Read More

Kansas: Widow’s Motion to Characterize Wrongful Death Recovery as Exempt from Subrogation Rules Found Barred
Posted on 13 Apr 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where a surviving spouse of a worker killed in a work-related car accident filed a wrongful death action in a state court and joined a separate federal wrongful death action filed by her son, and the parties eventually settled the claim with the federal... Read More

Arizona: Comp Carrier’s Lien May Be Equitably Reduced Even When Worker’s Dependents Settle for Less than Policy Limits of Third-Party’s Coverage
Posted on 8 Sep 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where an injured worker (or the worker’s dependents) have accepted workers’ compensation benefits and have further sought to recover over against one or more third parties that are responsible for the worker’s injuries, that worker—or... Read More

New York: Claimant Entitled to Approval Nunc Pro Tunc Where Inactivity on Part of Insurer Lulled Claimant Into Believing Carrier’s Lien Had Been Waived
Posted on 7 Aug 2015 by Larson's Spotlight

Where an injured worker settled a third-party action against an alleged tortfeasor for $800,000, with the workers’ compensation insurer having previously paid some $71,000 in benefits, the worker was entitled to an order approving a settlement of... Read More

California Workers’ Comp Case Roundup (3/12/2015)
Posted on 12 Mar 2015 by California Compensation Cases Staff

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 80 No. 2 February 2015 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review CONTENTS OF THIS... Read More

New York: Employee May Obtain Nunc Pro Tunc Approval of Settlement Only if Suit Is Actually Filed
Posted on 4 Dec 2015 by Larson's Spotlight

Where an injured employee never commences a third-party action to recover for injuries arising out of the same incident as his or her workers’ compensation claim, but settles the claim for less than the amount of compensation he or she has received... Read More

New Jersey: Court Strikes Down Employment Contract Provision Limiting Employee’s Right to Sue Third Party
Posted on 26 Aug 2016 by Thomas A. Robinson

A provision in an employment contract that limited an employee’s right to sue a third party for negligence and instead required the injured employee to accept only the benefits that he could recover under the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation... Read More

Texas: State Supreme Court Answers Complex Question as to Credit Allowed to Carrier in Third Party Action with Multiple Beneficiaries
Posted on 27 Jun 2014 by Larson's Spotlight

Under Texas law, consistent with that in the large majority of states, a workers’ compensation carrier has a subrogation interest in a third-party civil action to the extent of its prior payments for benefits and to treat the amount recovered as... Read More