Opinion ID: 1928643
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Effect of Workers' Compensation Claim

Text: Polinski first argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment because his pending workers' compensation claim against his employer, Nielsen, prohibited him from proceeding with his direct tort claim against OPPD. In support of this contention, Polinski directs our attention to § 48-118, which provides: When a third person is liable to the employee or to the dependents, for the injury or death, the employer shall be subrogated to the right of the employee or to the dependents against such third person.... [N]othing in the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act shall be construed to deny the right of an injured employee or of his or her personal representative to bring suit against such third person in his or her own name ... but in such event an employer having paid or paying compensation to such employee or his or her dependents shall be made a party to the suit for the purpose of reimbursement, under the above provided right of subrogation, of any compensation paid. (Emphasis supplied.) According to Polinski, § 48-118 requires him to name his employer, Nielsen, as a party in any action he brings against OPPD in order to protect Nielsen's subrogation rights. Since the amount of compensation Nielsen was required to pay Polinski was not ascertained until the compensation court's award on January 28,1991, Polinski contends that his cause of action under the Act did not accrue until that date, because it was only then that Nielsen's subrogation interest was quantified. Thus, he argues that the July 12, 1991, claim letter was timely submitted within the requirements of § 13-919(1). This court has held that § 48-118 is for the benefit of the employer, so that he might recover from a third party, who negligently injured his employee, the amount he was required to pay by the compensation statute. Danner v. Walters, 154 Neb. 506, 519, 48 N.W.2d 635, 642 (1951). Section 48-118 does not, however, prevent an injured employee from initiating a negligence action against a third party. In fact, the statute specifically allows it, with the sole requirement being that an employer having paid or paying compensation to such employee must be made a party to the suit. See, Niemeyer v. Forburger, 172 Neb. 876, 112 N.W.2d 276 (1961), Oliver v. Nelson, 128 Neb. 160, 258 N.W. 69 (1934). Thus, § 48-118 does not control when an employee may file suit against a third party; rather, it sets out how such a claim is to be brought. As made explicit by the plain language employed in § 48-118, an employee can bring a suit against a third party at any time, provided that his or her employer be made a party if that employer has paid compensation benefits to the employee. Consequently, Polinski was not prohibited from bringing a negligence claim against OPPD prior to the computation of Nielsen's subrogation interests. For purposes of the Act, the statute of limitations starts to run when a plaintiff discovers or should have discovered the negligent act of the political subdivision. Hutmacher v. City of Mead, 230 Neb. 78, 430 N.W.2d 276 (1988). Because Polinski's injury occurred on April 2, 1990, that is the date on which the 1-year filing requirements set forth in § 13-919(1) started. The fact that the workers' compensation award was not issued until January 28, 1991, is of no consequence, for Polinski was free to simultaneously bring an action against OPPD while seeking compensation from Nielsen in the Workers' Compensation Court. Polinski alternatively argues that his good faith pursuit of the workers' compensation claim against Nielsen equitably tolled the Act's 1-year filing requirement and that the filing of his notice of claim on July 12, 1991, in no way prejudiced OPPD because it was aware of the underlying accident. Although this court has never directly addressed the equitable tolling of a claim brought under the Act, we expressly rejected the argument in Schoemaker v. Metropolitan Utilities Dist., 245 Neb. 967, 515 N.W.2d 675 (1994), that lack of prejudice relieves the notice requirements of the Act. In that case, we examined a tort claim brought under the Act against the Metropolitan Utilities District. Employees of the district had knowledge of the accident that injured Schoemaker and the possibility of a claim, although the district did not officially receive a written claim within 1 year of the accident, as required by § 13-919(1). Schoemaker argued that her failure to file a written claim did not cause the district any prejudice because it had knowledge of the accident and had even conducted an investigation. In rejecting this argument, we stated that Section 13-905 requires notice to a designated individual or entity of a political subdivision in the form of a written claim. It would defeat the purpose of § 13-905 if mere knowledge of an act or omission, by a nondesignated party, was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of that section. Id. at 973, 515 N.W.2d at 679. Likewise, if we were to hold that Polinski's failure to file a claim within the required timeframe did not prejudice OPPD and therefore toll the statute of limitations, the notice of claim requirement of the Act would be defeated. In short, the express notice requirements of the Act leave no room for application of the equitable tolling doctrine. As noted in Schoemaker, the failure to file a claim within the 1-year period of limitations terminates that claim regardless of whether the political subdivision was actually made aware of the possibility that a claim would eventually be brought. For these reasons, we conclude that the district court was correct in holding that Polinski's workers' compensation claim did not equitably toll the running of the limitations period set forth at § 13-919(1).