Workers' Compensation Subrogation in All 50 States remains the most complete and thorough treatise covering workers' compensation subrogation ever published. There are very few areas in which the laws of each state vary more and are applied as differently, than in the area of workers' compensation subrogation. This book introduces the workers' compensation and subrogation attorney, claims handler, in-house counsel, and subrogation professional to some of the more esoteric and complex subrogation issues encountered in today's workers' compensation insurance subrogation marketplace. It covers the following issues in all 50 states:
• Allocating Third Party Recoveries
• Attorney's Fees
• Borrowed Servant Doctrine
• Conversion of Workers' Compensation Liens
• Costs and Expenses
• Dual Capacity Doctrine
• Equitable Subrogation/Contribution
• Exclusivity Rule Barring Action against Employer
• How to Calculate Your Credit/Advance and How It Is Applied in Each State
• Intentional Acts
• Joint Ventures
• Made Whole Doctrine as Applied to Workers' Compensation Subrogation
• Necessity of Intervention
• Lien Reduction Statutes
• Staff Leasing Services and Temporary Employment Agencies
• Statutory Subrogation Rights
• Subrogating against UM/UIM Benefits
• Subrogating in Medical Malpractice Cases
• Subrogating in Legal Malpractice Cases
• Waivers of Subrogation
• Who Qualifies as a Third Party
• Other Workers' Compensation Subrogation-Related Issues
The new, wholly reviewed and updated Eighth Edition is the tool to help you stay current with the changing law.
WHAT'S NEW IN THE EIGHTH EDITION
New developments included in this edition are:
• The Virginia Court of Appeals has rejected an attempt to limit the carrier’s reimbursement to “like damages”;
• The Pennsylvania Superior Court decision in Loftus v. Decker doubled down on a carrier’s inability to initiate a third-party suit under any circumstances;
• Kansas now allows a workers’ compensation carrier to subrogate against and seek reimbursement from a UM/UIM recovery made by the employee;
• The Hawaii Supreme Court has rejected efforts to allow equitable considerations (Made Whole Doctrine, etc.) to hamper workers’ compensation subrogation;
In addition to these and other new developments, the Eighth Edition broadens the explanation and treatment of subrogating employees’ intentional act recoveries from an employer, OCIPs and other wrap-up insurance programs, and the intricacies of waiver of subrogation endorsements contained in the workers’ compensation policy and their effect on the employer’s rights of reimbursement and recovery. The Nevada chapter also goes into great detail on the most pro-subrogation decision in a generation: AmTrust North America, Inc. v. Vasquez. With the stroke of a pen, the Nevada Supreme Court has done the following:
• Abandoned the “Breen Formula”—which it declared was “unworkable” and “no longer good law”;
• Ruled that workers’ compensation carriers no longer have to pay any portion of employees’ third-party attorneys’ fees and litigation costs;
• Confirmed the importance of a carrier intervening and participating in a third-party action;
• Acknowledged the societal and economic importance of workers’ compensation subrogation and the importance of protecting it;
• Reinstated a carriers’ subrogation rights against both economic damages and non-economic damages;
• Reaffirmed that the employee’s attorney, the employee, and the third-party liability carrier are all jointly and severally liable to the workers’ compensation carrier for its lien;
• Continued to codify; and
• Simultaneously overruled Breen v. Caesar’s Palace, 715 P.2d 1070 (Nev. 1986) and Poremba v. Southern Nevada Paving, 388 P.3d 232 (Nev. 2017), to the extent that either of them conflict with this decision.
This decision has turned Nevada overnight into one of the most favorable states for workers’ compensation subrogation. This is only the beginning of the significant changes that have taken place since the Seventh Edition hit the presses.
WHY THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU
The new Eighth Edition continues to feature new case law, statutory amendments, and regulations affecting subrogation rights in most of the individual state chapters. In addition to being an excellent primer on workers' compensation subrogation, suitable for both the new subrogation professional and the seasoned veteran, the book also contains a detailed synopsis of the workers' compensation subrogation laws in each of the 50 states. It is a must for anyone with multi-state subrogation responsibilities. Complete with diagrams, references and thousands of footnotes, this is the most ambitious workers' compensation subrogation project ever undertaken.
Gary L. Wickert is an insurance trial lawyer and is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on insurance subrogation. He is the author of several subrogation books and legal treatises and is a national and international speaker and lecturer on subrogation and motivational topics. Mr. Wickert is also a politician in Wisconsin, serving his eighth term as Town Supervisor in the Township of Cedarburg. After 15 years as the youngest managing partner in the history of the 30-lawyer Houston law firm of Hughes, Watters & Askanase, L.L.P., he returned to his native Wisconsin in 1998 and co-founded the firm of Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. He oversees a National Recovery Program which includes a network of nearly 300 contracted subrogation law firms in all 50 states, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom and boasts recoveries of more than $500 million in recoveries and credits for more than 250 insurance companies. Gary Wickert is also a commercial fiction author and his latest political thriller, Dark Redemption (Tudor Publishers), is available on Amazon.com.
Licensed in both Texas and Wisconsin, Mr. Wickert is double board-certified in both personal injury law and civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is also nationally certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA), for whom he has both written and graded the product liability questions contained on the NBTA national certification exam taken by trial lawyers around the country. For nearly thirty years, he has also served as an expert witness on subrogation and insurance related issues and has been consulted by insurance carriers, lawyers, and legislative bodies from several states. He is a licensed arbitrator and has attended more than 750 mediations in more than 30 different states. He is one of only a few lawyers to have ever represented a client before the United States Supreme Court on a subrogation issue.
"This book fills a long-standing need for a complete treatise covering this confusing subject across the country. Gary Wickert is clearly the country's leading authority on nationwide workers' compensation subrogation."
--Loren Smith, Kelly & Smith, P.C., Houston, Texas
"Regardless of which state you handle claims in, if you have workers' compensation subrogation responsibilities - you need this book!"
--Jennifer Williams, Claims Service Consultant, The Hartford, Orlando, Florida.
"The book is the bible on workers' compensation subrogation - regardless of which state the claim is in."
--Paul Webb, Claims Specialist, Latitude Claims Services, Inc., Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
"When our own state's workers' compensation statute came under attack, Gary Wickert was the first person we turned to for information and experience as to how other state's statutes handled the same issues. This book in invaluable for subrogation lawyers and insurance subrogation professionals."
--Dave Matejczyk, Vozar, Roberts & Matejczyk Co., L.P.A., Subrogation Lawyer and former Board Member of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals, Cleveland, Ohio.
"Workers' Compensation Subrogation In All 50 States provides an invaluable tool for the subrogation professional in one handy source. The compilation of this material was a Herculean effort on Attorney Gary Wickert's part, and the insurance industry is indebted to him for leading the charge in protecting and enforcing carrier's rights in this one time underutilized area of claims handling. I highly recommend Attorney Gary Wickert's book and counsel to all workers' compensation adjusters and claims managers interested in maximizing subrogation recoveries in each state they write business."
--Bill Gray, GUARD Insurance Group, Home Office Claims Analyst/Specialist, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
