Source: http://www.pcpsb.net/CAPS/Statutes/231103.htm
Timestamp: 2017-11-20 13:49:49
Document Index: 19317263

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1', '§ 4', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1']

A. (1) In the event that the employer or the employee or his dependent becomes party plaintiff in a suit against a third person, as provided in R.S. 23:1102, and damages are recovered, such damages shall be so apportioned in the judgment that the claim of the employer for the compensation actually paid shall take precedence over that of the injured employee or his dependent; and if the damages are not sufficient or are sufficient only to reimburse the employer for the compensation which he has actually paid, such damages shall be assessed solely in his favor; but if the damages are more than sufficient to so reimburse the employer, the excess shall be assessed in favor of the injured employee or his dependent, and upon payment thereof to the employee or his dependent, the liability of the employer for compensation shall cease for such part of the compensation due, computed at six percent per annum, and shall be satisfied by such payment. The employer’s credit against its future compensation obligation shall be reduced by the amount of attorney fees and court costs paid by the employee in the third party suit.
(3) Any dispute between the employer and the employee regarding the calculation of the employer’s credit may be filed with the office of workers’ compensation and tried before a workers’ compensation judge. If a third party action has been filed in a district court, such dispute shall be filed in the district court and tried before a district judge unless the parties agree otherwise. However, any determination of the employer’s credit shall not affect any rights granted to the employer or the employee pursuant to R.S. 23:1103(C).
C. (1) If either the employer or employee intervenes in the third party suit filed by the other, the intervenor shall only be responsible for a share of the reasonable legal fees and costs incurred by the attorney retained by the plaintiff, which portion shall not exceed one-third of the intervenor’s recovery for prejudgment payments or prejudgment damages. The amount of the portion of attorney fees shall be determined by the district court based on the proportionate services of the attorneys which benefitted or augmented the recovery from the third party. The employee as intervenor shall not be responsible for the employer’s attorney fees attributable to postjudgment damages nor will the employer as intervenor be responsible for the attorney fees attributable to the credit given to the employer under Subsection A of this Section. Costs shall include taxable court costs as well as the fees of experts retained by the plaintiff. The pro rata share of the intervenor’s costs shall be based on intervenor’s recovery of prejudgment payments or prejudgment damages.
D. An insurer shall grant its insured a dollar-for-dollar credit for any amount on any claim paid pursuant to this Chapter on the employer’s behalf and recovered in the current year, less any reasonable expenses incurred in the recovery by the insurer, in an action or compromise pursuant to this Section and R.S. 23:1102. The credit shall be used by the insurer in the calculation of the loss experience modifier promulgated by and in accordance with the rules of the National Council on Compensation Insurance, to be applied in determining the annual premium paid by the employer for workers’ compensation insurance under this Chapter. The group self-insurance fund shall apply the loss experience modifier authorized by R.S. 23:1196.
Amended by Acts 1958, No. 109, § 1; Acts 1989, No. 454, § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 1990; Acts 1997, No. 53, § 1; Acts 1997, No. 59, § 1; Acts 1997, No. 1354, § 1, eff. July 15, 1997; Acts 2016, No. 470, § 1.