A real life example (the numbers are changed) of why is it getting harder to create wealth in America.
A worker is injured on the job in a truck accident. He incurs medical expenses and lost wages of, let’s say, $100,000.
The accident is not his fault or the employer’s fault. The other party that caused the accident has minimal insurance coverage.
The employee goes into court and submits his claim to the jury with all of the proper documentation, medical bills and calculations for lost time. The employer is not denying the injury or the credibility of the worker. The jury as you would expect awards him the $100,000 in expenses and losses that he has incurred.
Sounds fair. Except that the employee never paid the medical bills (the workmen’s comp insurance carrier paid them) and he was already largely paid for the lost wages by the employer’s workmen’s comp insurance carrier. The jury is kept from hearing this information and the employee is under no legal obligation to repay the money to the insurance company for the expenses they incurred. The insurance company and the employer are thus required to pay the cost of the claim twice. Keep in mind that this does not include any money that may be deemed required for pain and suffering or other losses.
How can this be? The employee will file a claim against the employer’s workmen’s comp policy and then file again against the uninsured motorist protection. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the money awarded from the Uninsured Motorist (UM) policy could not be “set aside” to apply to the workmen’s comp claim, thus overriding the contract between the employer and the insurance company.
To correct this abominable ruling the Georgia State legislature clarified the law with a bill effective January 1, 2009….
Too late to impact the case that I just settled.
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