Court Opinion

ID: 9655472
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:11:32.756578+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:18.820954
License: Public Domain

K. N. Hansen, J.
(concurring). In Transamerican Freight Lines, Inc v Quimby, 381 Mich 149; 160 NW2d 865 (1968), the Court, construing the statute of limitations which is now MCL 418.827; MSA 17.237(827), held that an employer was entitled to the recovery obtained by its employee against a third-party tortfeasor even though the employer neither brought its own action nor intervened, and the period of limitation on the action against the third-party tortfeasor had run. I reluctantly concede that Transamerican Freight Lines shows that an action by an employer or insurance carrier to *230obtain the employee’s recovery against the third-party tortfeasor involves a cause of action distinct from the underlying action against the third-party tortfeasor. Except as otherwise specified by statute, a claim accrues, and the period of limitation therefore begins to run, at the time the wrong on which the claim is based is done. MCL 600.5827; MSA 27A.5827. Therefore, the period of limitation for an action by an employer or carrier to obtain the employee’s recovery beings to run when the recovery is withheld from the employer or carrier. In Ohio Farmer’s Ins Co v Neff, 112 Mich App 53; 315 NW2d 553 (1981), the Court allowed an action by the employer or carrier against the third-party tortfeasor where the tortfeasor, with knowledge of the employer’s or carrier’s superior claim, paid over the recovery to the employee.
However, if the issues in Transamerican Freight Lines were presented in a case of first impression, I would hold that an employer or carrier waives its right to the recovery where the employer or carrier neither brings its own action nor intervenes in the action between the employee and the third-party tortfeasor within the limitation period for the original action. I agree with the dissenting opinions of Justice O’Hara in Transamerican Freight Lines, 381 Mich 173, and in Gamble v American Asbestos Products Co, 381 Mich 105, 112-115; 159 NW2d 839 (1968), that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the statute allows the employer or carrier to sit passively on its rights while using the employee as a mere collection agency. I do not believe that the Legislature intended an employer or carrier to obtain the benefits of the employee’s efforts where it failed to assume part of the risk that the action would be lost and that the expense of litigation would prove fruitless. I urge the Supreme Court to reconsider this issue.