Injured Workers Cannot Unilaterally Avoid Subrogation Claims by Carriers

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a 2007 decision closed the door on another attempt by plaintiffs to avoid the workers' compensation insurance carrier's statutory lien against third party recoveries.  Although it is well established that injured workers or their widows cannot unilaterally attribute aspects of a recovery from a third party to pain or suffering or loss of consortium (damages that are not recoverable in a workers' compensation claim) to avoid the lien that the worker's compensation insurance carrier has for payment of wage loss and medical benefits, in a 2005 case, the surviving spouse of a deceased worker tried to "disclaim" her inheritance rights in favor of her children to avoid paying the compensation insurance carrier any money out of the third party recovery.  The Supreme Court found that disclaiming to avoid subrogation was not permitted.

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