Article: Trott v. Brinks and reimbursement: why Alabama's third-party statute should be amended.

INTRODUCTION

In Trott v. Brinks, Inc., the Alabama Supreme Court held that a workers' compensation insurer was not entitled to subrogation of medical benefits in a third-party wrongful-death suit because the deceased employee's estate was not entitled to recover medical benefits in a wrongful-death action. (1) Though the court properly applied the doctrine of equitable subrogation to reach its holding, Alabama's poorly worded third-party credit statute led to an unforeseen consequence. Before 1992 the statute did not grant a right of reimbursement to employers who paid medical expenses pursuant to workers' compensation laws. In 1992, the legislature amended the ...

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