Filing a Workers Comp Claim and Personal Injury Case at the Same Time

In many cases, an employee who suffered an industrial/work-related injury may also benefit from filing a third party injury claim, similar to a claim available in other, non-work related injuries. For example, consider a cab driver in San Francisco, who was injured in a rear-end accident, due to the other driver's fault. That cab driver might have a workers comp claim through his employer's insurance carrier, and he will also have a claim against the other driver for that driver's negligence. The case against the other driver is similar to the case any other injured driver or pedestrian, who was injured while not at work, would have.  

Another common situation is when an employee at a construction, manufacturing or assembly plant is injured by a defective machine or device. In that case, the employee will again have a workers comp claim against the employer and he may also have a products liability case against the manufacturer of the machine that caused the injury, assuming that other facts would support that claim.  

Pursuing both claims does not always make sense financially. This is because the workers comp insurer has lien recovery rights against any recovery for the same injury in a related personal injury case. In other words. If you have to pay a significant portion of your personal injury case to reimburse the workers compensation fund, then it might not be worth pursuing that second case at all. On the other hand, if you have suffered a serious injury and there is a potential for recovering a significant settlement or a trial verdict in your injury claim, then pursuing both claims might be in your best financial interest. This is especially the case if the conduct of the party at fault in your case was especially negligent or egregious.

An experienced personal injury attorney should be able to review and analyze the facts of your injury and advise you whether it makes sense for you to pursue both cases or whether you should just limit you legal remedies to your workers comp claim.    

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