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Zurich American Insurance Co. v. Bjelland12/28/2004
The district court ordered the entry of two partial summary judgments. The first determined that an alleged third-party tortfeasor in a workers' compensation subrogation action has a right to a jury trial on liability and damages and that the insurer-subrogee is not automatically entitled to the full recovery of benefits paid and payable without first proving liability and damages. Appellant does not challenge this holding.
In the second judgment, the district court adopted the parties' stipulated conclusion, agreed upon for purposes of appeal, that the appellant-insurer's recovery of workers' compensation benefits it paid on behalf of a deceased employee are limited to those damages recoverable under Minn. Stat. § 573.02 (2002), the Wrongful Death Act. Appellant challenges this conclusion, arguing that the 2000 amendments to Minn. Stat. § 176.061 (2002), the subrogation provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act, redefined the measure of recovery in such actions as the full amount of benefits paid and payable to the employee.
Because the plain language of the amendments effectively removes any former common law or statutory limitations to recovery in such actions, we reverse the second judgment. And because the parties have stipulated to liability and damages, we remand for the effectuation of the stipulation.
FACTS
In this appeal from a summary judgment, the district court ruled that a workers' compensation insurer-subrogee, who has paid compensation for a worker 's wrongful death, is limited in its recovery of damages against a third-party tortfeasor to only the amounts recoverable under the Wrongful Death Act, even though some of those amounts are less than the workers' compensation benefits paid or payable.
Respondent Donald Bjelland failed to stop his semi-tractor-trailer at a stop sign and collided with a car Eugene Bodeker was driving in the course of his employment for Associated Milk Producers, Inc. (AMPI). Bodeker was killed.
Appellant Zurich American Insurance Company, AMPI's workers' compensation insurer, paid to Bodeker's survivors $104,319 in workers' compensation benefits. That sum included dependency benefits. Dependency benefits required by the Workers' Compensation Act are greater than those recoverable under the Wrongful Death Act.
Bjelland and Bodeker's surviving spouse agreed to a Naig settlement for all damages except those recoverable as workers' compensation benefits. Zurich thereafter sued Bjelland in this subrogation action to recover all workers' compensation benefits it had paid, irrespective of any limits under the Wrongful Death Act.
Bjelland moved for partial summary judgment determining that he is entitled to a jury trial on the issue of the appropriate amount of dependency damages. Relying on caselaw, Bjelland argued that the subrogee is not automatically entitled to recover the workers' compensation benefits it paid but rather must prove its damages in a jury trial.
In its cross-motion for summary judgment, Zurich maintained that it is entitled to recover the workers' compensation benefits paid or payable irrespective of limitations under the Wrongful Death Act.
The district court entered two orders for partial summary judgment, each determining separate issues. In the first, dated December 3, 2003, the court granted Bjelland's motion, holding, among other things, that he is entitled to a jury trial on the issue of damages. Even though this partial summary judgment appears to be reviewable under Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 103.04, Zurich does not challenge the district court's ruling and, in fact, concedes that Bjelland is entitled to a jury t
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