Source: https://lamothefirm.com/2016/11/18/new-maritime-article-lhwca-suit-primer/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 12:16:30+00:00

Document:
The compensation scheme of the Act furthers at least two other objectives: (1) “placing the burden ultimately on the company whose default caused the injury,”7 and (2) “protecting employers who are subject to absolute liability by the Act.”8 The Act, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, furthers these objectives by (1) preserving a compensated worker’s remedies against third parties; (2) allowing the employer in certain circumstances to assert the worker’s rights against third parties when the worker has failed to do so; (3) denying third parties a right of contribution or indemnity from the employer even when the employer is at fault; (4) allowing the employer to recoup from third-party recoveries the benefits paid to the worker even if the employer is at fault; and (5) preserving the employer’s right to assert its own independent cause of action against third parties for recovery of the compensation benefits paid to the worker. The LHWCA preserves a compensated worker’s right to recover damages from parties other than his employer.9 The substantive right to recover against third parties is, of course, generally determined by law independent of the LHWCA. The Act does, however, regulate the procedure for asserting the worker’s third-party claim and the manner in which the fruits of that claim shall be distributed.
If, because a statutory assignment has not occurred, or because an assigned claim has reverted to the worker, the worker himself prosecutes the third-party claim and obtains a judgment, the LHWCA provides that the employer’s liability for compensation under the Act shall be reduced by the worker’s net recovery (i.e., “the actual amount recovered less the expenses reasonably incurred … in respect to such proceedings (including reasonable attorneys’ fees)”). Although an employer to whom a worker’s claim has been assigned has exclusive control over settlement decisions,17 the Act does not afford the same degree of control to a worker asserting an unassigned claim.
1 33 U.S.C. § 901, et seq.
2 Louviere v. Shell Oil Co., 509 F.2d 278, 283 (5th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1078, 96 S.Ct. 867, 47 L.Ed.2d 90 (1976).
3 See 33 U.S.C. § 905(a).
4 Louviere, 509 F.2d at 283.
5 See 33 U.S.C.A. § 914(a), (d).
6 See id. § 914(d).
7 Louviere, 509 F.2d at 283, quoting Italia Societa v. Oregon Stevedoring Co., 376 U.S. 315, 324, 84 S.Ct. 748, 754, 11 L.Ed.2d 732 (1964).
8 Id., quoting Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406, 412, 74 S.Ct. 202, 206, 98 L.Ed. 143 (1953).
9 See 33 U.S.C. § 933(a).
10 See 33 U.S.C. § 933(b).
12 Rodriguez v. Compass Shipping Co., Ltd., 451 U.S. 596, 101 S.Ct. 1945, 68 L.Ed.2d 472 (1981).
13 See 33 U.S.C. § 933(b).
14 Pallas Shipping Agency, Ltd. v. Duris, 461 U.S. 529, 103 S.Ct. 1991, 76 L.Ed.2d 120 (1983). Although the Act and the regulations envision formal compensation awards as a matter of course only in those cases in which there is a dispute between the worker and the employer, an employer may upon request cause entry of a compensation award, though he does not contest his liability under the Act, solely for the purpose of triggering the six-month period and the possibility of a statutory assignment. Id., 103 S.Ct. at 1996.
15 See 33 U.S.C. § 933(d).
16 The employer retains the present value of future compensation benefits “as a trust fund to pay such compensation and the cost of such benefits as they become due.” See 33 U.S.C. § 933(e)(1)(D). The employer must pay what is left, if anything, to the worker. Id.
17 See 33 U.S.C. § 933(d).
18 See 33 U.S.C. § 933(f).
19 See 33 U.S.C. § 933(g)(1).
21 See 33 U.S.C. § 933(g)(2).
22 The Etna, 138 F.2d 37 (3d Cir.1943).
25 Bloomer v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 445 U.S. 74, 100 S.Ct. 925, 63 L.Ed.2d 215 (1980).” H.R.Rep. No. 1027, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 36, reprinted in 1984 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad. News 2734, 2771, 2786.
26 Moody v. Arabie, 498 So.2d 1081 (La.1986) held that when an employer pays worker’s compensation to its employee who has been injured by the wrongful act of a third person, the employer and the employee become co-owners of a property right consisting of the right to recover damages from the third person. Since a co-owner may force another co-owner to contribute to the costs of maintenance and conservation of the common thing in proportion to his interest, the necessary and reasonable costs of recovery against the third party, including attorney fees, are to be apportioned between the worker and the employer according to their interests in recovery. Moody was subsequently codified in La. R.S. 23:1103.
27 Ochoa v. Employers National Insurance Co., 754 F.2d 1196, 1199 (1985).
29 Ochoa v. Employers National Insurance Co., 724 F.2d 1171, 1177 (5th Cir. 1984), vacated, 105 S.Ct. 583 (1984), on remand,754 F.2d 1196 (1985).
30 Ochoa, 754 F.2d at 1199.
Cir.1983), cert. denied, — U.S. —-, 104 S.Ct. 715, 79 L.Ed.2d 178 (1984).
32 Burnside, 394 U.S. at 415, 89 S.Ct. at 1150.
33 Id. at 418, 89 S.Ct. at 1152.

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