Virginia: Arbitrator’s Award of Lien Reimbursement to Comp Insurer Need Not Be Shared With Injured Worker

Where an arbitrator ordered an auto insurance carrier to reimburse a workers’ compensation insurer (“comp insurer”) for the full amount of its workers’ compensation lien ($4,060.19), the comp insurer need not share the lien proceeds with the injured worker on a pro rata basis; the arbitrator’s order was not a “compromise settlement” within the meaning of Va. Code § 65.2–309(C). Had the lien recovery been the product of negotiation and compromise, the court indicated the result could have been different. The comp insurer had made no concessions and was due reimbursement for its entire lien.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Williams v. Capital Hospice, 2016 Va. App. LEXIS 91 (Mar. 29, 2016)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 117.01.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

For more information about LexisNexis products and solutions connect with us through our corporate site