Court Opinion

ID: 9725097
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:29:37.468906+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:10.064334
License: Public Domain

*280R.S. Smith, J. (dissenting).
I join, with some misgivings, in the Court’s main holding, that a compensation carrier or employer that consents to settlement of a third-party claim must expressly reserve its offset rights or lose them, even where it has no existing lien. I have misgivings because it is not completely clear to me where this requirement is to be found in the statute. I join nevertheless, because the Court establishes a clear, easy-to-follów rule in an area where clarity is much to be desired; workers’ compensation claimants who settle third-party claims should never be left in doubt about how much of the settlement will go to them and how much to the compensation carrier.
But I cannot join the majority’s application of the rule to this case. Surely the employer’s reservation of its offset rights here was clear as day. The words “we can take credit against net third party proceeds” are as unambiguous a statement as can be imagined that the employer retained its offset right, and the employer’s letter to claimant’s counsel said those words twice.
Chief Judge Kaye and Judges G.B. Smith, Ciparick, Rosenblatt and Graffeo concur with Judge Read; Judge R.S. Smith dissents and votes to reverse in a separate opinion.
Order affirmed, with costs.