SB390: relative to liability of third person under workers' compensation.

SB 390 - AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE

01/22/04 0109s

2004 SESSION

04-3104

01/09

SENATE BILL 390

AN ACT relative to liability of third person under workers' compensation.

SPONSORS: Sen. Flanders, Dist 7; Sen. Clegg, Dist 14; Rep. Gilman, Graf 9

COMMITTEE: Insurance

ANALYSIS

This bill clarifies when the employer's or employer's insurance carrier's share of expenses and costs become payable to the employee when the employee is awarded a recovery against a third party.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01/22/04 0109s

04-3104

01/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Four

AN ACT relative to liability of third person under workers' compensation.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Workers' Compensation; Liability of Third Person. Amend RSA 281-A:13, I(b) to read as follows:

(b) The employer, or the employer's insurance carrier, shall have a lien on the amount of damages or benefits recovered by the employee, less the expenses and costs of action, to the extent of the compensation, medical, hospital, vocational rehabilitation, or other remedial care already paid or agreed or awarded to be paid by the employer, or the employer's insurance carrier, under this chapter, less the employer's or the employer's insurance carrier's pro rata share of expenses and costs of action as determined in paragraph IV.

2 Workers' Compensation; Recovery Against Third Person. Amend RSA 281-A:13, IV to read as follows:

IV. Whenever there is a recovery against a third person under paragraph I, II, or III, the commissioner, the arbitrator, or the superior court, as the case may be, shall order [such] a pro rata division of expenses and costs of action, including attorneys' fees, between the employer or the employer's insurance carrier and the employee [as justice may require] in proportion to the amount each recovers from the third person. Whenever such recovery exceeds the amount of the employer's or employer's insurance carrier's lien at the time of such recovery, the employer or the employer's insurance carrier shall be entitled to claim credit to the extent of such excess against benefits under this chapter which may become payable to the employee in the future on account of the same injury. The employer's or employer's insurance carrier's share of expenses, costs, and attorneys' fees shall become payable when the credit is actually taken against future benefits.

3 Applicability. Section 2 of this act applies to any recovery against a third person after the effective date of this act.

4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.