Opinion ID: 1116146
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: is travelers, as the workers' compensation carrier, entitled to a credit for the workers' compensation benefits it has paid on behalf of the deceased?

Text: In Cossitt v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 551 So.2d 879, 885-887 (Miss. 1989), we aligned ourselves with those jurisdictions which bar a workers' compensation carrier from recovering from the employer's uninsured motorist carrier. In that case, we strictly construed the language of Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-71 (1972), which reads, in part: An employer or compensation insurer who shall have paid compensation benefits under this chapter for the injury or death of the employee shall have the right to maintain an action at law against any other party responsible for such injury or death... . If recovery shall be had against such other party, by suit or otherwise, the compensation beneficiary shall be entitled to any amount recovered over and above that amount that the employer and insurer shall have paid. (Emphasis added). The record before us indicates that Larry's beneficiary failed to recover anything from the party responsible for Larry's death. Therefore, in concert with this statutory mandate and recent jurisprudence, Travelers, as workers' compensation carrier, is not entitled to recover.