222 Conn. 744 | Conn. | 1992
Lead Opinion
The principal issue in this appeal is whether an employee who is injured in an automobile accident while operating his employer’s vehicle during the course of his employment is precluded by General Statutes § 31-284 (a)
The record discloses the following undisputed facts. The plaintiff was a police officer employed by the city
The city moved for summary judgment on the basis that the plaintiff had received workers’ compensation benefits, and that, pursuant to § 31-284 (a), those benefits represented the plaintiff’s exclusive remedy as to the city. The trial court granted the city’s motion for summary judgment in reliance on the Appellate Court’s decision in Ross v. New Haven, 19 Conn. App. 169, 561 A.2d 456, cert. granted, 212 Conn. 814, 565 A.2d 536 (1989),
The city argues that the exclusivity provision of § 31-284 (a) was triggered in this case by the undisputed fact that the plaintiff was entitled to and did receive workers’ compensation benefits for injuries sustained during the course of his employment. The exclusivity provision, according to the city, bars the plaintiff, in the circumstances of this case, from uninsured motor
The plaintiff makes a two part argument in support of his contention, to the contrary, that uninsured motorist claims against his self-insured employer do not fall within the prohibition of § 31-284 (a). First, the plaintiff claims that § 31-284 (a) is inapplicable because he is suing the city, not in negligence, but pursuant to a statutorily created right to recover uninsured motorist benefits and pursuant to the city’s contractual obligation to provide uninsured motorist coverage. Second, the plaintiff contends that he is suing the city in its capacity as an insurer, not as an employer, and thus the action is not barred by § 31-284 (a).
We agree with the city. We therefore reverse the judgment of the Appellate Court.
I
The Workers’ Compensation Act and the statute mandating uninsured motorist coverage appear in separate chapters of the General Statutes. The first Workers’ Compensation Act was enacted in this state in 1913; Public Acts 1913, c. 138, pt. A, § 2; see also Perille v. Raybestos-Manhattan-Europe, Inc., 196 Conn. 529, 539-40, 494 A.2d 555 (1985); A. Grillo, “Fifty Years of Workmen’s Compensation—An Historical Review,” 38 Conn. B J. 239,246 (1964); while § 38-175c requiring uninsured motorist coverage on all automobile liability insurance policies, was enacted fifty-four years later in 1967. Public Acts 1967, c. 510, § 4. Neither statutory scheme expressly refers to the other.
“The purpose of the workmen’s compensation statute is to compensate the worker for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment, without regard to fault, by imposing a form of strict liability on the employer.” Jett v. Dunlap, 179 Conn. 215, 217, 425
Section 31-284 (a), known as the exclusivity provision of the Workers’ Compensation Act, provides that “[a]n employer shall not be liable to any action for damages on account of personal injury sustained by an employee arising out of and in the course of his employment .... All rights and claims between employer and employees, or any representatives or dependents of such employees, arising out of personal injury or death sustained in the course of employment as aforesaid are abolished other than rights and claims given by this chapter . . . .” This provision does not, however, preclude an injured employee from bringing a
The plaintiff does not dispute that he was injured during the course of his employment and that he has received workers’ compensation benefits. He claims that he is nonetheless entitled to uninsured motorist benefits from the city because the exclusivity of the Workers’ Compensation Act is inapplicable to a claim for uninsured motorist benefits that derives from statutorily mandated uninsured motorist coverage and a contractual obligation to provide such coverage undertaken by the city when it became self-insured.
A
The Appellate Court originally concluded that a claim for uninsured motorist benefits was within the purview of the Workers’ Compensation Act in Ross v. New Haven, supra, 171. It emphasized that § 31-284 (a) “has been repeatedly and uniformly construed by the courts of this state to exclude further recovery from the employer by an employee who has received workers’ compensation benefits,” and held that an employee, injured in the course of his employment, was barred from receiving uninsured motorist benefits from his employer. Id. The Appellate Court subsequently determined, however, in Bouley v. Norwich, 25 Conn. App. 492, 495, 595 A.2d 884 (1991), and CNA Ins. Co. v. Colman, 25 Conn. App. 651, 653, 595 A.2d 949 (1991), that Ross was no longer controlling following this court’s decision in Wilson v. Security Ins. Co., supra. We do not agree.
The issue presented in Wilson was not whether a claim for uninsured motorist benefits brought against an employer for injuries sustained in the course of employment was precluded by the Workers’ Compen
B
The plaintiff advances the argument that the language of the statute and the cases that have interpreted the exclusive remedy provision limit its application to common law claims against an employer. Because his claim is statutory and contractual in nature, he contends that it is not barred by the exclusivity of the Workers’ Compensation Act.
Contrary to the plaintiff’s representations, neither the language of the statute nor the weight of judicial authority supports such a limited interpretation of § 31-284 (a). The statute does not distinguish between common law tort claims, statutory claims and contract claims. It states that “[a]ll rights and claims between employer and employees . . . arising out of personal injury . . . sustained in the course of employment
This court has repeatedly stated that workers’ compensation is an employee’s only remedy for injuries that arise during the course of his employment. See Pokorny v. Getta’s Garage, supra, 455; Nolan v. Borkowski, 206 Conn. 495, 500, 538 A.2d 1031 (1988); Perille v. Raybestos-Manhattan-Europe, Inc., supra, 541-42; Velardi v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., supra, 376. The exclusivity provision “operatejs] as a total bar to actions brought by employees against their employers for job related injuries.” Sgueglia v. Milne Construction Co., 212 Conn. 427, 433, 562 A.2d 505 (1989); see also Sharp v. Mitchell, 209 Conn. 59, 66, 546 A.2d 846 (1988); Panaro v. Electrolux Corporation, 208 Conn. 589, 599, 545 A.2d 1086 (1988).
One commentator has noted that “[t]he exclusiveness rule relieves the employer not only of common-law tort liability, but also of statutory liability under all state and federal statutes, as well as of liability in contract and in admiralty, for an injury covered by the compensation act.” 2A A. Larson, Workmen’s Compensation Law (1992) § 65.30, p. 12-21. In addition, courts from other jurisdictions have ruled that their workers’ compensation statutes bar actions brought pursuant to various state and federal statutes. See, e.g., Ferreira v. Panama Canal Co., 215 F. Sup. 726 (D.D.C. 1963) (the Federal Employers’ Liability Act); Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7320 v. Sheffield, 398 So. 2d 262 (Ala. 1981) (state Employer’s Liability Act); Gordon v. Burgess Construction Co., 425 P.2d 602 (Alaska 1967) (Defective Machinery Act); McCarty v. Marshall, 51 Ill. App. 3d 842, 366 N.E.2d 1052 (1977) (Structural Work Act); Turner v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, 256 Pa. Super. 43, 389 A.2d 591 (1978) (No-Fault Automobile Insurance Act). The statutory or contractual basis for uninsured motorist coverage does not, therefore, abrogate the exclusivity of the Workers', Compensation Act for personal injuries that arise during the course of employment.
While uninsured motorist coverage has been mandated by statute, we have recognized that such coverage is less an independent source of recovery than it is a “safety net.” Section 38-175c “does not require that uninsured motorist coverage be made available when the insured has been otherwise protected, such as when the uninsured motorist is only one of two or more joint tortfeasors, or when the uninsured motorist has other resources available to protect the insured. Nor does the statute provide that the uninsured motorist coverage shall stand as an independent source of recovery for the insured, or that the coverage limits shall not be reduced under appropriate circumstances.” Roy v. Centennial Ins. Co., 171 Conn. 463, 472, 370 A.2d 1011 (1976); see also Wilson v. Security Ins. Co., supra, 538. When an employee is eligible for and has received workers’ compensation benefits, the policies underlying uninsured motorist coverage are not sufficiently compelling to override the exclusivity of the Workers’ Compensation Act. While a self-insured employer must maintain uninsured motorist coverage, such insurance does not compel the provision of coverage to an employee covered by workers’ compensation.
We are also unpersuaded by the plaintiff’s claims that, in mandating uninsured motorist coverage, the legislature had either created an exception to the exclusivity of the Workers’ Compensation Act or had impliedly repealed the exclusivity of the act as it per
“The rule disfavoring implied repeals is a ‘well established principle of statutory construction.’ Southern Connecticut Gas Co. v. Housing Authority, 191 Conn. 514, 521, 468 A.2d 574 (1983). The legislature is presumed to have acted with the intent to create a consistent body of law. Warner v. Leslie-Elliott Constructors, Inc., 194 Conn. 129, 134, 479 A.2d 231 (1984). If two statutes appear to be in conflict but can be construed as consistent with each other, then the court should give effect to both. Hirschfeld v. Commission on Claims, 172 Conn. 603, 607, 376 A.2d 71 (1977). ‘[EJnactments by the General Assembly are presumed to repeal earlier inconsistent ones to the extent that they are in con
Only one interpretation of §§ 31-284 (a) and 88-175c enables the statutes to “stand together.” Our conclusion that an employee is limited to the recovery of workers’ compensation benefits from his employer for injuries that occur during the course of his employment does not render the two statutes inconsistent. The Workers’ Compensation Act remains an employee’s exclusive remedy against an employer for workplace injuries, while uninsured motorist coverage remains mandatory on all automobile liability insurance policies.
Because the legislature in § 31-284 (a) has unambiguously provided that the Workers’ Compensation Act is to be an employee’s exclusive remedy for “[a]ll rights and claims between employer and employees” arising out of work-related personal injuries, it is for the legislature, and not the courts, to carve out an exception to the act for uninsured motorist benefits.
We are aware that the four jurisdictions that have considered whether an employee who has received workers’ compensation benefits is precluded from receiving uninsured motorist benefits from his self-insured employer or his insurance carrier have decided that the employee is not so precluded. See Heavens v. LaClede Gas Co., 755 S.W.2d 331 (Mo. App. 1988) (self-insured employer); Christy v. Newark, 102 N. J. 598, 510 A.2d 22 (1986) (self-insured employer); Boris v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 356 Pa. Super. 532, 515 A.2d 21 (1986) (commercial insurance company); William v. Newport News, 240 Va. 425, 397 S.E.2d 813 (1990) (self-insured employer). We are, however, unpersuaded by the reasoning of those cases. We are constrained by the express language of our Workers’ Compensation Act to preclude an employee’s recovery of uninsured motorist benefits from an employer for his work-related injuries.
We now turn to the plaintiffs second claim that, in providing uninsured motorist coverage as a self-insured municipality, the city shed the protection of the Workers’ Compensation Act. Essentially, the plaintiff asserts that he was suing the city, not as an “employer,” but as an “insurer.” As § 31-284 (a) is applicable only to actions against an employer, the plaintiff argues that the present action for uninsured motorist benefits against the city in its capacity as insurer was not barred.
This effort to invoke the “dual capacity” doctrine for self-insured employers is unavailing. We have previously considered and expressly rejected the dual capacity doctrine in the context of a claim that a company-employed nurse was acting as an independent contractor in treating a plaintiff employee. Panaro v. Electrolux Corporation, supra, 600, 606. In doing so, we recognized that the weight of authority in nearly all jurisdictions had rejected similar dual capacity arguments. Id., 596-97.
While Panaro did not address the aspect of the dual capacity doctrine asserted by the plaintiff in the present appeal,, the dual capacity doctrine in general has been found unpersuasive by commentators and courts alike. See, e.g., 2A A. Larson, supra, § 72.81 (a), p. 14-229 (the dual capacity doctrine “could go a long way toward demolishing the exclusive remedy principle” when “one considers how many such added relations an employer might have in the course of a day’s work”); J. King, supra, 492-96 (“It is easy to see how the dual capacity genie, once allowed out of its bottle, could quickly
Courts and commentators have also specifically criticized the application of the dual capacity doctrine to self-insured employers. Professor Larson refers to attempts to assert a dual capacity on the basis of an employer’s status as a self-insured entity as “rather far-out” and notes that even California, which at one time had accepted the dual capacity doctrine, has subsequently rebuffed such attempts. 2A A. Larson, supra, § 72.89, p. 14-287; see Denman v. Duval Sierrita Corporation, 27 Ariz. App. 684, 685, 558 P.2d 712 (1976) (theory that self-insured employer acted in a dual capacity “is without support in the case law or logic”); Williams v. International Paper Co., 129 Cal. App. 3d 810, 815-16, 181 Cal. Rptr. 342 (1982) (“By becoming self-insured, the employer simply does not create an ‘ “extra” employer status or a relationship that is distinct from that of employer and employee’ ”; self-insurance did not transform the employer “into two legal entities where there was but one before.”); Swain v. J.L. Hudson Co., 60 Mich. App. 361, 230 N.W.2d 433 (1975) (court dismissed suit brought against employer in capacity as self-insurer as barred by exclusivity provision of workers’ compensation act).
We will not circumvent the clear language of § 31-284 (a) by invoking the fiction of the dual capacity doctrine for self-insured employers. The city was not transformed into something other than an employer for purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Act because it chose to become self-insured. Due to the cost of liability insurance premiums, it is conceivable that many employers, including municipalities like the city
Moreover, in this court’s decision in the companion case of CNA Ins. Co. v. Colman, 222 Conn. 769, 610 A.2d 1257 (1992), issued today, we concluded that an employer’s automobile liability insurance provider was entitled to the same immunity from suit for uninsured motorist benefits for work-related injuries as the employer. We cited the increased costs that would ultimately be borne by the employer for benefits paid by its insurer and concluded that, for purposes of § 31-284 (a) and uninsured motorist benefits, the employer’s insurer was the “alter ego” of its insured. Id., 773-74. If an employer’s automobile liability insurance provider is deemed an “employer” within the meaning of § 31-284 (a), it would be illogical and inconsistent to conclude that the self-insured employer is anything other than an “employer.”
The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded to the Appellate Court with direction to affirm the judgment of the trial court.
In this opinion Glass, Borden and F.X. Hennessy, Js., concurred.
General Statutes § 31-284 provides in pertinent part: “(a) An employer shall not be liable to any action for damages on account of personal injury
In this opinion, the term uninsured motorist benefits encompasses underinsured motorist benefits as well.
The named plaintiffs wife is also a plaintiff in this case. In this decision, “plaintiff” refers to the named plaintiff.
Certification was granted limited to the following question: “Is an employee who is injured in the course of his employment and who has received workers’ compensation benefits barred from receiving uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits from his self-insured employer pursuant to General Statutes § 31-284 (a)?” Bouley v. Norwich, 220 Conn. 915, 597 A.2d 332 (1991).
General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 31-293 provides in pertinent part: “When any injury for which compensation is payable under the provisions of this chapter has been sustained under circumstances creating in some other person than the employer a legal liability to pay damages in respect thereto, the injured employee may claim compensation under the provisions of this chapter, but the payment or award of compensation shall not affect the claim or right of action of such injured employee against such other person, but such injured employee may proceed at law against such person to recover damages for such injury; and any employer having paid, or having become obligated to pay, compensation under the provisions of this chapter may bring an action against such other person to recover any amount that he has paid or has become obligated to pay as compensation to such injured employee. . . . If such employer and employee join as parties plaintiff in such action and any damages are recovered, such damages shall be so apportioned that the claim of the employer, as defined in this section, shall take precedence over that of the injured employee in the proceeds of such recovery, after the deduction of reasonable and necessary expenditures, including attorneys’ fees, incurred by the employee in effecting such recovery. ... If the damages, after deducting the employee’s expenses as provided above, are more than sufficient to reimburse the employer, damages shall be assessed in his favor in a sum sufficient to reimburse him for his claim, and the excess shall be assessed in favor of the injured employee. . . .”
Pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) S§ 38-327 (now $ 38a-371), 38-326 (now § 38a-370) and 38-175c (now § 38a-336), the city, as a self-insurer, was required to provide uninsured motorist coverage on its automobiles.
General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 38-326 provided in pertinent part: “(b) Residual liability insurance shall afford coyerage which satisfies the requirements of sections 38-175a to 38-175h, inclusive.” (Emphasis added.)
General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 38-175c provided: “(a) (1) Every [automobile liability insurance] policy shall provide insurance, herein called uninsured motorist coverage, in accordance with such regulations [as the insurance commissioner adopts], with limits for bodily injury or death not less than those specified in subsection (a) of section 14-112, for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles and underinsured motor vehicles and insured motor vehicles, the insurer of which becomes insolvent prior to payment of such damages, because of bodily injury, including death resulting therefrom, provided each insurer licensed to write automobile liability insurance in this state shall provide such uninsured motorists coverage with limits requested by the named insured upon payment of the appropriate premium, but such insurer shall not be required to provide such coverage with limits in excess of the limits of the bodily injury coverage of such policy issued to such named insured. No insurer shall be required to provide uninsured motorist coverage to (A) a named insured or relatives residing in his household when occupying, or struck as a pedestrian by, an uninsured or underinsured motor vehicle or a motorcycle that is owned by the named insured, or (B) to any insured occupying an uninsured or underinsured motor vehicle owned by such insured. Every such policy issued on or after October 1, 1971, which contains a provision for binding arbitration shall include a provision for final determination of insurance coverage in such arbitration proceeding. With respect to any claim submitted to arbi
“(2) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, every such policy issued or renewed on and after July 1,1984, shall provide uninsured¿ motorist coverage with limits for bodily injury and death equal to those purchased to protect against loss resulting from the liability imposed by law unless the insured requests in writing a lesser amount, but not less than the limits specified in subsection (a) of section 14-112. Such written request shall apply to all subsequent renewals unless changed in writing by the insured.
“(b) (1) An insurance company shall be obligated to make payment to its insured up to the limits of the policy’s uninsured motorist coverage after the limits of liability under all bodily injury liability bonds or insurance policies applicable at the time of the accident have been exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements, but in no event shall the total amount of recovery from all policies, including any amount recovered under the insured’s uninsured motorist coverage, exceed the limits of the insured’s uninsured motorist coverage.
“(2) For the purposes of this section, an ‘underinsured motor vehicle’ means a motor vehicle with respect to which the sum of the limits of liability under all bodily injury liability bonds and insurance policies applicable at the time of the accident is less than the applicable limits of liability under the uninsured motorist portion of the policy against which claim is made under subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section.”
After this court granted certification to hear the plaintiffs appeal in Ross, the appeal was withdrawn.
The legislature has expressly provided, however, that an employer is not responsible to pay workers’ compensation benefits to an employee for personal injuries caused by the “wilful and serious misconduct of the injured employee or by his intoxication.” General Statutes § 31-284 (a).
General Statutes § 31-284 (a) does provide that “nothing herein shall prohibit any employee from securing, by agreement with his employer, additional benefits from his employer for such injury or from enforcing such agreement for additional benefits.” (Emphasis added.) See also Pokorny v. Getta’s Garage, 219 Conn. 439, 460-61, 594 A.2d 446 (1991). There is absolutely no evidence in the record of any contractual undertaking between the city and Bouley with respect to uninsured motorist benefits. As the Appellate Court noted in Bouley v. Norwich, 25 Conn. App. 492, 496, 595 A.2d 884 (1991), every automobile liability insurance policy must provide uninsured motorist coverage and as such, coverage would exist regardless of bargaining between employer and employee. We will not presume that, through the adoption of legislation mandating uninsured motorist coverage, a contract for “additional benefits” was imposed upon all employers and their employees as a matter of law. Section 31-284 (a) would not, however, appear to preclude an employer and employee from entering into an express contract whereby the employer agrees to provide uninsured motorist coverage for the benefit of the employee in addition to workers’ compensation coverage.
There are no references to the Workers’ Compensation Act in the legislative history of General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 38-175c (now § 38a-336). See 12 S. Proc., Pt. 4,1967 Sess., pp. 1956-58; 12 H.R. Proc., Pt. 8,1967 Sess., pp. 3295-97.
The plaintiff asserts that it would be absurd to require the city to provide uninsured motorist coverage, and yet to exclude its employees from benefitting from this coverage. While an employee cannot recover uninsured motorist benefits from his employer for work-related injuries, others might be eligible for such benefits, i.e., a passenger in the automobile who is not an employee. Consequently, requiring an employer to maintain uninsured motorist coverage on its automobiles is not absurd. WThether an employer’s uninsured motorist policy may make an outright exclusion in coverage for an employee occupying an automobile during the course of employment is an issue to be addressed by the legislature and the insurance commissioner, not the courts. See Wilson v. Security Ins. Co., 213 Conn. 532, 539, 569 A.2d 40, cert. denied, 498 U.S. 814, 111 S. Ct. 52, 112 L. Ed. 2d 28 (1990); see also Regs., Conn. State Agencies § 38-175a-6 (c) (listing exclusions from an insurer’s obligation to pay uninsured motorist benefits).
We have recognized two narrow exceptions to the exclusivity of the Workers’ Compensation Act. See Blancato v. Feldspar Corporation, 203 Conn. 34, 40, 522 A.2d 1235 (1987) (exception for minor who has been illegally employed); Jett v. Dunlap, 179 Conn. 215, 218-19, 425 A.2d 1263 (1979) (exception for intentional torts committed or intentionally directed by employer); but see Mingachos v. CBS, Inc., 196 Conn. 91, 108, 491 A.2d 368 (1985) (declining to extend Jett exception to include “accidental injuries caused by the gross, wanton, wilful, deliberate, intentional, reckless, culpable, or malicious negligence, breach of statute, or other misconduct of the employer short of genuine intentional injury” [internal quotation marks omitted]).
The plaintiff also argues that § 38-175a-6 (d) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies authorizes a claimant to recover both uninsured motorist benefits and workers’ compensation benefits. Section 38-175a-6 (d) (2) provides in relevant part that a policy for uninsured motorist coverage “may provide for the reduction of limits to the extent that damages have been . . . paid or are payable under any workers’ compensation . . . law.” The plaintiff emphasizes that we accepted the validity of the regulation in Wilson v. Security Ins. Co., 213 Conn. 532, 569 A.2d 40 (1990), and that the regulation “necessitates a finding that a claim for workers’ compensation benefits and a claim for [uninsured motorist] benefits can co-exist and that the former does not bar the latter.” To the contrary, this regulation does not lead to such a conclusion. Section 38-175a-6 (d) does no more than authorize a setoff whereby an insurer may deduct from the limits of its uninsured motorist policy any amounts that have been paid pursuant to a workers’ compensation policy. For example, an employee who has received workers’ compensation benefits would not be precluded by General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 31-284 (a) from making a claim for uninsured motor
Because we concluded in CNA Ins. Co. v. Colman, 222 Conn. 769, 610 A.2d 1257 (1992), that an employee of a non-self-insured employer was precluded by then General Statutes § 31-284 (a) from collecting uninsured motorist benefits from his employer’s insurance carrier, we need not address the plaintiff’s claim that denying him uninsured motorist benefits in this case would deny him equal protection of the law.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. I agree with the Appellate Court that the exclusivity provision of the Workers’ Compensation Act; General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 31-284;
The majority claims that the Appellate Court’s decision was predicated, in part, on a misreading of Wilson v. Security Ins. Co., 213 Conn. 532, 569 A.2d 40, cert. denied, 498 U.S. 814, 111 S. Ct. 52, 112 L. Ed. 2d 28 (1990). Wilson was one reason advanced by the Appellate Court; however, the crux of the Appellate Court’s decision was not Wilson, but its analysis of the purposes and policies of workers’ compensation benefits and uninsured motorist benefits.
The Workers’ Compensation Act provides an exclusive remedy for an employee for work related injuries
The plaintiff employee brought the present action seeking to enforce his contractual right to recover damages he sustained as a result of the negligence of a third party tortfeasor—rights created by the defendant
Furthermore, such a holding undermines the statutory requirement that an employer provide uninsured motorist coverage. In footnote 11 of its opinion, the majority suggests that it is not absurd to require the city to provide uninsured motorist coverage, even though employees are precluded from benefitting from such coverage. The majority takes comfort in the fact that other individuals, such as a passenger in the car who is not an employee, might be eligible for benefits. The possible benefit to other individuals, however, does absolutely nothing to help the insured employee recover for the damages he or she would have been able to recover from the uninsured tortfeasor, which was the purpose of General Statutes § 38a-336. Harvey v. Travelers Indemnity Co., supra, 249. Section 38a-336 does not distinguish between employees and nonemployees; rather, it gives all insureds—employees and nonemployees alike—a contractual and statutorily mandated right to uninsured motorist coverage. See id., 249-51.
Indeed, the majority is unable to point to any other jurisdiction to support its conclusion that the Workers’ Compensation Act bars an employee’s recovery of uninsured motorist benefits from an employer for work related injuries. On the contrary, other jurisdictions that have had occasion to consider the issue have held that their workers’ compensation act is not a bar. The New Jersey Supreme Court in Christy v. Newark, 102 N. J. 598, 510 A.2d 22 (1986), a case strikingly similar to this, ruled that its workers’ compensation act did
Not only did the court in Christy hold that the New Jersey workers’ compensation act does not bar an employee from recovering uninsured benefits from his self-insured employer, but it also noted that such uninsured coverage does not give the employee a windfall, but merely recoverable damages. The employer is entitled to reimbursement from the damages paid by the third party tortfeasor or pursuant to the uninsured motorist. coverage. Christy v. Newark, supra, 609. Likewise, the employer in Connecticut, subject to the provision of § 31-293, would also be entitled to reimbursement. Indeed, in the present case, the defendant was reimbursed by approximately $18,000 out of the $20,000 paid to the plaintiff by the third party tortfeasor’s insurer, leaving the plaintiff $2000 to. cover his other damages which were not compensated for under workers’ compensation.
Accordingly, I dissent.
See footnote 1 of the majority opinion.
Here, as in the majority opinion, the term uninsured motorist benefits encompasses underinsured motorist benefits as well.
“We further conclude that a self-insured entity, in its capacity as an employer, is required to provide workers’ compensation benefits, and, as an insurer, is required to provide uninsured motorist benefits. An employee’s receipt of workers’ compensation benefits from a self-insured employer does not, therefore, preclude his right to receive uninsured motorist benefits.
“A review of the purposes and policies underlying workers’ compensation benefits and uninsured motorist benefits indicates that they exist for separate and distinct reasons.” Bouley v. Norwich, 25 Conn. App. 492, 495, 595 A.2d 884 (1991).