{"id":252,"date":"2017-11-01T15:35:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T19:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/?p=252"},"modified":"2017-11-01T15:35:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T19:35:52","slug":"third-party-actions-workers-comp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/third-party-actions-workers-comp\/","title":{"rendered":"Third-Party Actions and Workers’ Comp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vermont\u2019s workers\u2019 compensation law<\/a> generally prohibits an employee from suing their employer, even in cases where the employer is at fault.\u00a0 An injured employee\u2019s sole remedy is to bring a workers\u2019 compensation claim for workers\u2019 compensation benefits such as wage replacement, medical benefits, vocational rehabilitation benefits, and permanent disability benefits.\u00a0 In a workers\u2019 compensation claim, you do not have to prove that another person was negligent.<\/p>\n

But you can sue a third-party for damages, if your injury is caused by the negligence of a third- party who is someone other than your employer or co-worker.\u00a0 A third-party action involves bringing a lawsuit for bodily injuries and is separate and apart from a workers\u2019 compensation case.<\/p>\n

You can recover damages such as pain and suffering, emotional distress and, in some instances, punitive damages. Your spouse may be able to receive damages for loss of consortium.\u00a0 These types of damages are not available under workers\u2019 compensation.<\/p>\n

Third-party actions may arise in these commons circumstances:<\/p>\n

Auto Accidents – Third-party actions may arise from auto accidents that occur if you are on the road as part of your job.\u00a0 For instance, a driver for a delivery company is involved in a vehicle accident when another driver runs a red light.\u00a0 The driver\/employee can collect workers\u2019 compensation benefits and bring a lawsuit against the driver who ran the red light.<\/p>\n

Medical malpractice – Medical malpractice sometimes occurs when an injured worker has surgery or other treatment for his or her work injury.\u00a0 In these instances, the injured worker can collect workers\u2019 compensation benefits and also sue the negligent doctor, hospital or other medical provider.<\/p>\n

Slip and fall\/Premises liability:\u00a0 These claims arise when a worker on the job is injured while on another\u2019s property. Some examples are when a worker slips on water or ice, falls due to defective stairs, is hit with falling merchandise or other objects or is injured due to the condition of a parking lot.<\/p>\n

Products liability: Products liability claims arise when an injured worker is injured due to a defective product. He or she may be injured by defective machinery, equipment or any other defective equipment used on the job.\u00a0 In these cases, the injured is able to bring a third-party lawsuit against the product manufacturer.<\/p>\n

Under Vermont law<\/a>, the employer or insurer who pays workers\u2019 compensation benefits has a lien on any recovery from a third-party action.<\/p>\n

If you have been hurt on the job by the negligence of a third-party, please call us at 802-775-7459 for a free consultation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vermont\u2019s workers\u2019 compensation law generally prohibits an employee from suing their employer, even in cases where the employer is at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaltercomp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}