Wisconsin Supreme Court Confirms Carrier’s “Equal Voice” In Third-Party Litigation

Trial lawyers are already calling it a “travesty of justice” and I gave two media interviews about its significance within two hours of the decision being published. The truth is, however, the new Wisconsin Supreme Court case which is being decried as allowing a workers’ compensation carrier to “force” an employee to accept a settlement…

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Subrogating Longshore Payments Against Jones Act Recoveries

A recent decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has dramatically expanded a longshore harbor workers’ compensation carrier’s rights of subrogation in Jones Act cases. The Chenevert v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 2014 WL 902873 (5th Cir. 2014) decision declares for the first time that a longshore harbor workers’ compensation carrier has a right of…

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Carrier Reimbursement Under War Hazards Compensation Act

My oldest son was recently in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor with Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES). He is one of tens of thousands of employees of civilian contractors working overseas and subject to workers’ compensation under the Defense Base Act (DBA) and War Hazards Compensation Act (WHCA). The U.S. has military personnel…

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Ohio Court Of Appeals Splits Hairs To Bar Workers’ Comp Subrogation Third-Party Action

Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp. v. Shaffer, 2013 WL 5636299 (Ohio App. 2013) Trial lawyers have a stranglehold on Ohio subrogation. Workers’ compensation subrogation in Ohio has gone through major transformations since it was ruled unconstitutional in 2001. Although subrogation is currently a statutory right of carriers and self-insured employers, it has been a bumpy…

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PIP Subrogation/Reimbursement From Workers’ Comp Carrier In Pennsylvania

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage is mandatory in Pennsylvania. Due to Pennsylvania being an optional or “choice” no-fault state, insureds must choose between “full tort” and “limited tort” options, and PIP coverage must be provided. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Kentucky are the only states that have “choice” no-fault laws, also known as an optional modified…

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Confusion Surrounds Arizona Court of Appeals’ Opinion on Workers’ Compensation Statute Amendment

Third-Party Cause Of Action No Longer Automatically Assigned To Employee After One Year In a mysterious legal sleight of hand that would make David Copperfield envious, the Arizona Court of Appeals has reinvented the English language by making it possible to reassign something that wasn’t assigned in the first place. In Acosta v. Kiewit-Sundt, 2014…

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Subrogation And The “Oklahoma Option”

Drastic Re-Write of Comp Law Provides New Subrogation Options In the 1970s, the Oklahoma Sooners’ football team successfully began implementing a new offensive system known as the “option offense.” Sooner Coach Barry Switzer has been credited by many for having perfected the use of the wishbone offense, a staple of option offenses. Forty years later,…

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