Law enforcement: don't forget about personal injury law

A short dramatization of a real life event goes something like this: patrol officer's cruiser gets T-boned by a beer truck. According to the field sobriety tests and post-accident blow above the legal limit, it was clear that the beer man had been enjoying a little of the sudsy goodness while on-the-clock. Officer was severely injured and required substantial leave to recover, and the driver was terminated by his employer well before his plea was entered as to the DUI charge.
The driver served his "time" and is now doing whatever it is that former beer truck drivers do post-termination and misdemeanor sentence. As to the officer, however, the story will probably never end. According to the state workers' compensation system, he reached "maximum medical improvement" shortly after his second back surgery, but was graciously allowed additional sessions of physical therapy on the state's dime. The reality is that he will never fully recover, at least not to his pre-accident condition.
The point of telling the officer's story is two-fold. First, without an official statistic, the law enforcement community must be one of the largest demographics to seek benefits under state workers' compensation schemes for no other reason than the physical demands of the job. It is a process that needs to be understood well in advance of an injury. Second, in cases similar to the one above, recovery is not necessarily limited to workers' compensation benefits. The officer can and did sue the company that employed the drunk driver.
We will discuss general workers' compensation concepts ad nauseam in the future. For now, just like the civilian public, understand that law enforcement officers can file suit against negligent parties who cause workplace injuries. In the case above, the drunk driver was not the official target of the civil suit, but rather the deeper pocket--the driver's employer. Personal injury lawsuits are not about justice, they are about money.
In such cases, where benefits were provided by workers' compensation, the officer's recovery against the beer company no longer belonged entirely to him. Through the legal doctrine known as subrogation, the workers' compensation insurer became a settlement partner. Now there are certain nuances that may apply to limit or eliminate subrogation, such as the "made whole rule" that some states follow, but the reality is that an insurer will most often get a piece of the pie if it asserts subrogation rather than insurance arbitration.
The whole interplay between insurance and personal injury recovery sounds complex and it is. The point to understand though is that officers are not limited to workers' compensation benefits if injured on the job by a negligent third party. Sharing the settlement with insurer may in some cases make the recovery bitter sweet, but workers' compensation, as limited and frustrating as it can be to deal with, must pay whereas the targets of civil litigation may pay. Workers' compensation benefits kick in relatively quickly. As for the officer above, his civil settlement was negotiated a little over two years from the date of the injury.


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Morton & Gettys adds personal injury lawyer

Richards McCrae has joined the law firm of Morton & Gettys as its personal injury practice group leader.He will be based out of the firm's office on Oakland Avenue in Rock Hill.
A Fort Mill native, McCrae graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2001 and went on to earn his law degree from USC School of Law in 2004. Prior to joining Morton & Gettys, McCrae was an attorney with Chappell, Smith & Arden in Columbia, where he practiced personal injury law.
“In a relatively short period, Richards has built a solid reputation across the state,” said John Gettys, managing partner and co-founder of Morton & Gettys.“We're pleased to have his name on the letterhead.”McCrae serves as a volunteer coach for the Springfield Middle School Mock Trial team.He's a big Gamecocks fan and enjoys reading about American and European history.
Morton & Gettys has offices in Rock Hill, Indian Land and York. Founded in 2001, the firm has seven attorneys and 11 support staff and paralegals.

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