STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. DAVID GRANSKIE, JR.
A-6278-11T4
The question presented by this appeal is whether respondent AIG Casualty Company, which paid workers' compensation benefits to petitioner, Kelly Greene, is entitled to a lien against her settlement with a third-party tortfeasor pursuant to Section 40 of the Workers' Compensation Act, N.J.S.A. 34:15-40, even though her injury was ultimately noncompensable.
Nothing in either Section 15 or Section 40 conditions reimbursement of the claim from a third-party settlement on whether the benefits the employer paid were owed in the first place. Read in conjunction, Section 40 and our collateral source statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:15-97, plainly require that a third-party tortfeasor be held to the full extent of its liability for a workplace injury, that the employer be repaid for benefits paid to the injured worker pursuant to the Act without regard to the compensability of the claim, and that the employee not obtain a double recovery. AIG is entitled to its lien. 10-16-13
A-6278-11T4
The question presented by this appeal is whether respondent AIG Casualty Company, which paid workers' compensation benefits to petitioner, Kelly Greene, is entitled to a lien against her settlement with a third-party tortfeasor pursuant to Section 40 of the Workers' Compensation Act, N.J.S.A. 34:15-40, even though her injury was ultimately noncompensable.
Nothing in either Section 15 or Section 40 conditions reimbursement of the claim from a third-party settlement on whether the benefits the employer paid were owed in the first place. Read in conjunction, Section 40 and our collateral source statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:15-97, plainly require that a third-party tortfeasor be held to the full extent of its liability for a workplace injury, that the employer be repaid for benefits paid to the injured worker pursuant to the Act without regard to the compensability of the claim, and that the employee not obtain a double recovery. AIG is entitled to its lien. 10-16-13
