Court Opinion

ID: 9749022
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 16:21:30.730886+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:42.310981
License: Public Domain

HUDOCK, Judge,
concurring.
As the Majority notes, Warner v. Continental/CNA Insurance Companies, supra, holds that an employee injured within the scope of his employment may recover underinsured motorists’ benefits under his employer’s insurance policy in addition to any workers’ compensation benefits to which he may be entitled. I join the Majority opinion because (1) I am bound by the Warner decision, and (2) I see no reason why the result in the instant case should be different simply because the instant case involves uninsured motorists’ benefits whereas Warner involved underinsured benefits or because the present case involves a co-employee rather than an employer, as was the situation in Warner,
Part of the rationale for the Warner decision was that one of the purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Act is furthered by allowing the injured employee to recover underin-sured or uninsured motorists’ benefits against his or her employer’s motor vehicle insurer because a fund is thereby created against which the employer’s workers’ compensation carrier can exert its subrogation lien. Unanswered by our decision today is the question of whether the added benefits which we allow Appellant to recover will ultimately benefit Appellant or the workers’ compensation carrier.