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LIBBY v. GOODWIN PONTIAC-GMC TRUCK5/20/1997
The sole issue in this appeal is whether, under the workers' compensation act (act), General Statutes § 31-275 et seq., the defendants were entitled to a credit against future workers' compensation liability measured by the amount of a settlement that the plaintiff, David Libby, reached with respect to a personal injury claim against a third party tortfeasor. Because the defendants failed to perfect their statutory rights under General Statutes (Rev. to 1991) § 31-293(a), we conclude that the defendants are not entitled
to a credit against their workers' compensation liability in the amount of the plaintiff's recovery from the third party tortfeasor.
The opinion of the Appellate Court sets forth the relevant undisputed facts. "The plaintiff, David Libby, was an employee of the named defendant, Goodwin Pontiac-GMC Truck, Inc., on February 1, 1987, when he was injured in a work-related automobile accident
involving a third party. The plaintiff did not file an action against the third party, but, in September, 1989, the plaintiff received a $37,365 settlement from the third party. The defendants were not involved in the settlement, and neither the plaintiff nor the third party paid or promised to pay the defendants any settlement proceeds. The defendants did not file an action against the third party. On July 20, 1990, the plaintiff received treatment for his injury at John Dempsey Hospital and incurred a bill of $2058. The defendants declined to pay the bill, claiming that they were entitled to a credit against their workers' compensation liability in the amount of the plaintiff's settlement with the third party." Libby v. Goodwin Pontiac-GMC Truck, Inc., 42 Conn. App. 200, 202-203, 678 A.2d 995 (1996).
The workers' compensation commissioner (commissioner) determined that the defendants were not entitled to a credit in the amount of the plaintiff's settlement, and that the defendants were required to pay the plaintiff's hospital bill. In making his determination, the commissioner found that the defendants' rights were governed by § 31-293(a), which entitled the defendants to bring an independent action against the third party tortfeasor, and that the defendants' failure to bring such an action precluded them from claiming a credit in the amount of the plaintiff's settlement. The workers' compensation review board (board) affirmed the determination of the commissioner.
The Appellate Court affirmed the decision of the board, concluding that the defendants had failed to protect their statutory right to reimbursement by filing their own action against the third party tortfeasor and, therefore, that they were not entitled to credit the
plaintiff's settlement against their workers' compensation liability. Id., 209. We granted the defendants' petition for certification, and now affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.
We begin our analysis with some overriding principles embodied in the act. "First, the protects an injured employee by allowing the employee to sue a third party tortfeasor in a private cause of action for damages, such as pain and suffering, that are uncompensated by a workers' compensation award. . . . Second, the protects an employer by allowing the employer to obtain reimbursement for workers' compensation benefits from a third party tortfeasor, either by becoming an intervening plaintiff in the employee's cause of action or by bringing a separate action derivative of the employee's cause of action. . . . Third, the employer's statutory right to subrogation of the proceeds of the employee's claim against the tortfeasor implements the public policy of preventing double recovery by an injur
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