Third Parties in Workers’ Compensation Cases

There are some cases in which an injured worker would have to deal with a third party (someone who is at fault for the injury but not related to the same employer) in a workers' compensation case. The most common example of this situation is one in which an employee is injured in a car or truck accident while on the job. We have assisted many injured workers with this type of situation. People sometimes do not realize they are entitled to a workers' compensation claim when someone else is at fault. Sometimes clients hire us for their car accident claims without knowing they also have a corresponding workers' compensation case until our legal team is able to investigate and explain the situation.

In these types of cases, the third party may be the car insurance carrier of the responsible party. The injured employee's workers' comp claim may then include a lien against a monetary recovery made in the personal injury claim against the car or truck liability insurance company. A lien gives the workers' compensation carrier the right to be repaid directly from the liability proceeds from the third party claim. This lien can often be negotiated or reduced. An experienced workers' compensation lawyer, like those at the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, can be of great value in such complicated situations. Our firm has handled thousands of personal injury cases from car accidents and job injuries, and we've probably handled a case very much like yours.