Court Opinion

ID: 9585442
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:00:27.87648+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:47:08.983945
License: Public Domain

Boslaugh, J.,
dissenting.
It seems to me that this is a very simple case. There are only two issues to be decided: how the net recovery should be distributed and the credit the employer should receive. The statute is clear and determines the answer to both questions.
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-118 (Reissue 1984) provides that the amount of the recovery against a third person, in excess of the compensation paid by the employer, and after deducting the expenses of making the recovery, shall be paid forthwith to the employee or the dependents.
The recovery in this case was $200,000. The expense of making the recovery was the attorney fee of one-third of the recovery, or $66,666.67. The net recovery was $133,333.33 ($200,000 - $66,666.67). The employer had paid compensation in the amount of $11,093.07. This amount, less the employer’s proportionate share of the expenses, must be paid to the employer ($11,093.07-$3,697.69 = $7,395.38). Since there are no other dependents, the balance of the net recovery, $125,937.95 ($133,333.33 - $7,395.38), must be paid forthwith *819to the plaintiff.
The statute further provides that the amount paid to the employee or to the dependents shall be treated as an advance payment of any future installments of compensation. The amount paid to the plaintiff, $125,937.95, divided by the weekly rate of compensation, $164.05, results in the employer’s receiving credit for 767.68 weeks. At the end of that time, if the plaintiff is alive and her “widowhood” has not ended, the employer must resume payment of the weekly benefit.
Since the employer is unwilling to enter into a lump-sum settlement, the present value of its potential liability must be disregarded. To the extent Gillotte v. Omaha Public Power Dist., 189 Neb. 444, 203 N.W.2d 163 (1973), is in conflict, it should be disapproved.
Hastings and Caporale, JJ., join in this dissent.