Two cases on bad faith, subrogation and offsets

While not applicable in most work injury cases these two cases remind us that a work injury can lead to additional claims and that offsets are still a complicated matter. Decided on April 26,2012 the Zerba case involves offsets. That is, what can be deducted from your workers comp benefits. Social security benefits can be an offset to permanent total disability benefits and the case goes into the subject of offsets. Military retirement benefits are not typical offsets for Colorado employers as is noted in the case. The claimant also did assert constitutional matters so we shall see if an effort is made to take the case to the Colorado Supreme Court. In the Schuessler case

the decision addressed claims that came from a work injury claim. The claimant sued a doctor for malpractice and the workers comp insurer for bad faith. The insurer raised many issues to include subrogation or its right to seek reimbursement. The case addresses many matters but this was not a workers comp appeal. It more involved matters which came from the underlying workers comp case.