Idaho Law Blog
By Fred Lewis
There are occasions when a third party hurts or injures someone while they are working. The injured Idaho worker can bring a claim against these negligent third parties. Under Idaho Code §72-223 the Idaho Worker’s Compensation Insurance Company has a subrogated claim or right to reimbursement from any money that injured worker obtains from the third party. However, there are limits on when they Idaho Worker’s Compensation Insurance Company can ask to be reimbursed for Worker’s Compensation Benefits they have paid. Specifically, the Idaho Supreme held in Adams vs Liberty a 1966 case, if the employer is also partly at fault in causing the accident that injured their own employee they loose their Worker Compensation Insurance Company or Surety looses they subrogated claim.
If a dispute arises between the Idaho Worker’s Compensation claimant and his/her employer Idaho Worker’s Compensation Insurance Company, the Idaho Supreme Court has held
The Idaho Industrial Commission has exclusive jurisdiction to decide whether or not it has lost its subrogated claim by its own negligence. Van Tine v. Idaho State Insurance Fund, 126 Idaho 688, 690 (1994); Williams v. Blue Cross of Idaho, 151 Idaho 515, 519 (2011). If the Commission has the “exclusive jurisdiction” to decide whether or not his/her employer has lost its entire subrogated claim by its own negligence, the Commission is required to hear and consider all facts and evidence necessary to make that decision.
Since the Commission has the exclusive jurisdiction to decide the subrogation issue including whether or not the employer was negligent, it must hear all the facts and evidence to decide these issues. The Idaho Supreme Court came to this holding because the Idaho legislature in the Idaho Worker’s Compensation law has stated that all disputes arising under the Idaho Worker’s Compensation come with this the exclusive jurisdiction of the Idaho Industrial Commission, this responsibility cannot be abrogated.
If you are injured while you’re working by a negligent third party please call me. I will tell you if you have a case and tell you if you have to pay back your employer’s Idaho Worker’s Compensation Company.