Part 7: Georgia Workers’ Compensation Lien: Burden of Proof and Legal Procedure by admin | Nov 8, 2011 | Uncategorized | 0 comments subrogation lien under Georgia law. When an employer pays benefits to an employee who was hurt on the job, the employer has a lien, which means the right to make the employee pay those benefits back if someone else also ends up paying the benefits for the employee. See O.C.G.A. § 34-9-11.1. The lien is subrogatedbecause the employer or workers’ compensation insurance company has the right to step into the employee’s shoes for purposes of getting paid back for the benefits it paid out on behalf of the employee (such as medical bills and lost wages). Today I will be writing about how the burden of proof and legal procedure work in a workers’ compensation subrogation lien. The workers’ comp lien often affects the personal injury clients I represent here in Georgia. For example, one of my car accident clients drove a van filled with school kids as part of her job. Another driver negligently ran into her, and the insurance company for that driver had to compensate my client for her losses. Meanwhile, because my client was hurt on the job, her employer had paid her medical bills and her lost wages. When the driver paid up, the employer was ready and waiting with outstretched hand, wanting my client to turn over all the money she had just been paid. Georgia law gives employers a lien, but as a matter of fairness it also makes a number of exceptions to the general rule that employees have to pay back an employer if they receive compensation from a third party. The law recognizes that the workers’ compensation statute is very limited. The employer has to (is supposed to) pay for any injuries that occur in the course of the employment, but the law puts substantial restrictions on how much the employer will have to pay. In addition, the purpose of the workers’ compensation statute is to make sure workers are covered financially when they are hurt on the job; if the employee had to reimburse the employer before he himself was fully compensated, the purpose of the statute would be defeated. Burden of Proof. In keeping with the purpose of the statute, the courts put the burden of proof on the employer or its workers’ compensation insurance carrier to prove that the employee has been fully and fairly compensated. On the issue of whether the employee has been “fully and completely compensated,” “the employer carries the burden of proof, whether the employee has received compensation from the tortfeasor through a jury award or by settling his claim against the tortfeasor.” City of Warner Robins v. Baker, 255 Ga. App. 601, 604 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002). . Until the employee is compensated, the employer has no right to get any money back via its subrogation lien. The employer or its insurer must prove the amount of losses incurred by the plaintiff, and then show that the amount of compensation the plaintiff received exceeds these losses. Where the employer/insurer contends that the injuries were not connected to the accident, it also must prove that point. For example, in Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Johnson, 244 Ga. App. 338, 341 (Ga. Ct. App. 2000), the Court found that the employer, insurer “bore the burden of showing that the death within 16 months of the collision, for which death the family had been compensated by the third parties responsible for the accident, was not a part of the losses resulting from the collision.” Legal Procedure. The trial court, and not the jury, makes the ultimate determination as to whether the plaintiff (the employee) was “fully and completely compensated.” The author of this seven-part blog series on workers’ compensation liens is Lee Wallace, a personal injury lawyer and car accident attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website
