SHEILA TOHN, APPELLANT,
v.
MONTGOMERY ELEVATOR COMPANY, A FOREIGN CORPORATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1981-06-30
No. 80-2210
Before BARKDULL and FERGUSON, JJ., and MELVIN, WOODROW M. (Ret.), Associate Judge.
400 So. 2d 1061 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1981)

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Synopsis

An employee injured in an elevator accident received workers' compensation benefits and settled a third-party tort claim against the elevator company. The trial court required the employee to reimburse her employer's insurance carrier for the full workers' compensation benefits paid, and the appellate court affirmed, holding that the employee failed to demonstrate conditions that would justify reducing the reimbursement obligation.


Holding

The trial court properly required full reimbursement of workers' compensation benefits from the settlement proceeds after deducting attorney's fees and costs. The employee failed to establish any grounds for reduction, such as comparative negligence, insufficient insurance coverage, or uncollectibility, which would have permitted a diminished reimbursement.


Headnotes

[1] A workers' compensation carrier is entitled to recover 100 percent of compensation benefits paid or to be paid from a third-party tort judgment, after deduction of the em…

[2] The burden of proof rests upon the employee to demonstrate that the recovery in a third-party tort action was less than the full value of damages sustained, thereby justi…

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Key Quotes

“The employer or carrier shall recover from the judgment, after attorney's fees and costs incurred by the employee or dependent in that suit have been deducted, 100 percent of what it has paid and future benefits to be paid, unless the employee or dependent can demonstrate to the court that he did not recover the full value of damages sustained because of comparative negligence or because of limits of insurance coverage and collecti-bility.”

Establishes the statutory framework requiring full reimbursement unless the employee proves specific exceptions exist.

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Facts & Procedural History

On September 11, 1977, Sheila Tohn was injured when an elevator at Memorial Hospital malfunctioned and fell from the fourth to the ground floor. She r…

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Opinion of the Court
BARKDULL, Judge.

BARKDULL, Judge.

On September 11,1977, plaintiff suffered injuries while employed by Memorial Hospital when an elevator, which she entered on the fourth floor, failed to operate properly when it plummeted from the fourth to the ground floor. She received workmen’s compensation benefits from her employer in the total amount of $35,007.00. She commenced a third party tort action against Montgomery Elevator Company. During the pendency of this action, the employer filed a notice of lien. Thereafter, the plaintiff settled with the elevator company for $105,000.00, which then brought forth a motion for equitable distribution pursuant to Section 440.39(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1977) then in existence.1 In part, the statute read as follows:

“Upon suit being filed, the employer or the insurance carrier, as the case may be, may file in the suit a notice of payment of compensation and medical benefits to the employee or his dependents, which said notice shall be recorded and the same shall constitute a lien upon any judgment recovered to the extent that the court may determine to be their pro rata share for compensation benefits paid or to be paid under the provisions of this law. The employer or carrier shall recover from the judgment, after attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the employee or dependent in that suit have been deducted, 100 percent of what it has paid and future benefits to be paid, unless the employee or dependent can demonstrate to the court that he did not recover the full value of damages sustained because of comparative negligence or because of limits of insurance coverage and collecti-bility. The burden of proof will be upon the employee....”

At the time of the hearing on the motion, the trial court found that the plaintiff had failed to establish any conditions which would occasion a diminution in the amount to be reimbursed to the compensation carrier.2 Whereupon, after deducting attorney’s fees and costs, the trial court directed that the amount expended in workmen’s compensation benefits to be returned to the carrier and the balance to be delivered to the plaintiff. This ruling was in accordance with the statute as it then existed and should be affirmed. Ramar-Dooley Construction Co. v. Norris, 341 So. 2d 546 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977); Pubiix Super Markets, Inc. v. Gomis, 367 So. 2d 722 (Fla.3d DCA 1979); Maryland Casualty Company v. Whitley, 375 So. 2d 18 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). This is as it should be. The injured party has received full compensation; her award has not been reduced by any comparative negligence; it was within the maximum the tortfeasor cold pay, and was collectible. Therefore, not to repay to the employer or its insurance carrier the workmen’s compensation benefits would permit a double recovery by the plaintiff at the expense of her employer, who was not at fault.

Affirmed.

. Compare the pre-1977 statute, § 440.39(3)(a), Fla. Stat. 1975; compare the post-1977 statue, § 440.39(3)(a), Fla.Stat.1979.

. No question of comparative negligence, no question of the amount of coverage, and no question of collectibility.


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