Upper Darby Township v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Dockery)

Summary

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board’s reversal of a workers’ compensation judge’s order awarding Upper Darby Township subrogation from Michael Dockery’s third-party recovery. The court held that, because Dockery was entitled to salary-continuation and medical benefits under the Heart and Lung Act and endorsed the workers’ compensation checks back to the Township, the Township was not entitled to subrogation under the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law. The court rejected the Township’s argument that its separate accounting of payments created subrogation rights.

Holdings

1. A public employer is not entitled to subrogation from a police officer’s third-party recovery for benefits required under the Heart and Lung Act when the officer did not actually receive or collect workers’ compensation benefits because he endorsed the workers’ compensation checks to the employer.
2. An employer’s decision to issue workers’ compensation checks from a separate account and require the claimant to endorse those checks back to the employer does not establish a right of subrogation against the claimant’s third-party recovery.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a self-insured public employer may obtain subrogation from a police officer’s third-party recovery for workers’ compensation indemnity and medical benefits when the officer was entitled to Heart and Lung Act benefits and endorsed the workers’ compensation checks to the employer.
2. Whether the employer’s separate accounting and payment of indemnity and medical benefits under a workers’ compensation account created a subrogation right notwithstanding the Heart and Lung Act and the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law.

Disposition

affirmed