If workman's compensation pays for damages for which you also seek to recover from a third party (i.e. someone else's insurance), then the workers compensation insurance company has a right to be reimbursed whatever amount the work comp carrier paid to you or on your behalf. For example, if work comp paid $10,000 for medical expenses, temporary disability and permanent disability to you or on your behalf and you recover $15,000 from the responsible party's insurance company, then work comp has a right to be reimbursed $10,000 and you have a right to retain $5,000 out of the third party recovery. However, if work comp paid $15,000 for medical expenses, temporary disability and permanent disability to you or on your behalf and you recover only $10,000 from the responsible party's insurance company, then work comp has a right to be reimbursed $10,000 and you have get nothing out of the third party recovery. On the other hand, if workman's compensation pays for damages for which you also seek to recover from your own uninsured motorist policy (i.e. UM for hit and run), then the uninsured motorist policy gets a credit for any payments made by the work comp carrier before the uninsured motorist policy has to pay. Thus, if work comp paid $10,000 for medical expenses, temporary disability and permanent disability to you or on your behalf and you are awarded $15,000 from your own uninsured motorist insurance company, then your own uninsured motorist insurance company has a credit for $10,000 paid by work comp and you have a right to retain $5,000 out of the uninsured motorist recovery. But, if work comp paid $15,000 for medical expenses, temporary disability and permanent disability to you or on your behalf and you are awarded only $10,000 from your own uninsured motorist insurance company, then your own uninsured motorist insurance company has a credit for more than the recovery ($15,000 paid by work comp) and you do not get any additional uninsured motorist money. This is not an exhaustive explanation, and there are some variable. These do get complicated, and there are some situations in which it is possible to negotiate with the work comp carrier, but the work comp carrier does have explicitly spelled out recovery rights. You should contact an attorney to assist you with this matter.
Answered on Aug 01st, 2013 at 12:02 AM