Opinion ID: 454564
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: I.Code Ann. tit. 24, Sec. 284 provides:

Text: Sec. 284. Exclusiveness of remedy When an employer is insured under this chapter, the right herein established to obtain compensation shall be the only remedy against the employer; but in case of accident to, or disease or death of, an employee not entitled to compensation under this chapter, the liability of the employer is, and shall continue to be the same as if this chapter did not exist.--Amended June 15, 1961, No. 762, Sess.L.1961, p. 109. 5 Vanterpool argues that because the Virgin Islands Act is a compulsory insurance scheme which requires an employer to contribute to an exclusive government fund, the borrowed employee doctrine cannot apply. That an employer must participate in a government administered fund rather than purchase insurance through a private carrier or act as a self-insurer does not, however, affect the availability of the borrowed employee doctrine. Cf. 4 A. Larson, Workmen's Compensation Law, App. A, Table 7 (summary of insurance requirements for private employment in different jurisdictions). The ultimate funding source is itself irrelevant to arrangements such as the Litwin-HOVIC agreement, where the costs of procuring insurance from any source is shifted from the original employer to the borrowing employer. Had the Virgin Islands enacted a compulsory insurance statute which allowed an employer to choose between the participation in a government fund or the purchase of private insurance, Vanterpool's relation to both Litwin and HOVIC would remain unchanged. Indeed, a borrowed employee's knowledge of and acquiesence in the risks inherent in his new employment is in no manner dependent upon his knowledge of the source from which compensation benefits may eventually be provided 6