St. Louis Board of Education v. Shannon

Summary

The Missouri Supreme Court considered whether section 287.150(3) of the Missouri Revised Statutes, governing subrogation and distribution of proceeds in a workers’ compensation claimant’s third-party recovery, was unconstitutional. The court held that the statute was constitutional and adopted the allocation method previously established in Ruediger v. Kallmeyer Bros. Service. The judgment was reversed and the case remanded.

Holdings

1. Section 287.150(3) is constitutional because it does not clearly contravene the Missouri Constitution and is not so confusing that its legislative intent cannot be reasonably discerned.
2. The distribution formula stated in Ruediger governs the parties' third-party recovery: deduct third-party litigation expenses, apportion the balance according to the ratio of compensation paid by the employer to the total third-party recovery, pay the amounts due forthwith, and treat the employee's payment as an advance against future compensation subject to the statute.

Questions Presented

1. Whether section 287.150(3), RSMo 1969, governing the employer and insurer's subrogation rights in a third-party workers' compensation recovery, was unconstitutional because it was vague, indefinite, or violated equal protection or due process.
2. If the statute was constitutional, what formula governed distribution of the third-party recovery between the employee and the employer and insurer.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded