Disability Law

Georgia Workers? Compensation Law Update ? Injured Workers Rights To File Personal Injry Lawsuits Against Workers' Compensation Insurance Companies Become More Limited

By Jack E. Clay

I would first like to thank my clients, the legal community, and others for your continued referrals. As I have written before, my Douglasville, Georgia law firm handles workers' compensation claims throughout the State of Georgia. While many of my clients live her in Douglas County, many live in Atlanta, Paulding County, Carroll County, Lithia Springs, Cobb County, Hiram, Dallas, and Carrollton. Thank you for your continued referrals.

The case of Coker v. Great American Insurance Company was decided by the Georgia Court of Appeals on February 19, 2008. The issue in this case was whether an injured worker who received workers' compensation benefits could sue her workers' compensation insurance company in a personal injury lawsuit due to the negligence of the workers' compensation insurance company?s to properly inspect a machine which ultimately severed nine of her ten fingers. The Court of Appeals held that the workers' compensation insurance company was immune from suit under OCGA 34-9-11(a) since it provided workers' compensation benefits to the plaintiff?s employer through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries. In this case, there were two insurance companies involved at issue. First, there was the insurance company that alleged performed the negligent inspection of the machine. Second, there was the other insurance company that actually insured the employer. In this case, the company that insured the employer was a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance company that performed the inspection. The inspection allegedly took place as part of an audit.

Insurers in Georgia often conduct audits on the premises of their insureds in order to ensure compliance. It is my experience that workers' compensation insurance companies in Georgia are often involved in risk management with employers. While, certainly, the extent of involvement varies from company to company, I believe most companies have a vested interest in reducing injuries to workers, especially in manufacturing factory and construction industries which tend to have higher rates of injured workers.

This case presents negative implications to injured workers in Georgia for a few reasons. First, the snowball effect of continually limited injured worker?s rights to bring third-party lawsuits based on personal injury has grown over the past several years in Georgia. While, admittedly, this is an unusual case, it nevertheless could stand to limit injured worker?s rights in the future. Second, the Court of Appeals held in this case that the workers' compensation insurer is considered to be an alter ego of the actual employer for purposes of immunity. This may mean, in the future, that workers' compensation insurer's immunity from injured worker?s personal injury lawsuits could be extremely limited or non-existent.

Full post as published by Georgia Law Blog on March 09, 2008 (boomark / email).