Lubrano v. Mohegan Sun Casino
Lubrano v. Mohegan Sun Casino
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
The defendants, Mohegan Sun Casino and Safety National Casualty Corporation, appeal from the decision of the workers’ compensation review board
The following facts and procedural history are relevant to our resolution of this appeal. On June 15, 2004, the plaintiff was injured when he fell from a roof at a time when he was an employee of Mohegan Sun Casino. The plaintiff and his wife brought an action against six defendants in the Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court (tribal court), the plaintiff suing for negligence and his wife suing for loss of consortium. The defendants filed an intervening complaint to recover workers’ compensation benefits they had paid or would become obligated to pay the plaintiff. In August, 2009, following mediation, the plaintiff and his wife settled their respective claims with the remaining defendants, with the
The defendants chose to proceed before the commission, seeking to assert a moratorium of the plaintiffs future workers’ compensation benefits against both the entirety of the plaintiffs settlement and a portion of his wife’s settlement with the tortfeasors. The parties agreed that the defendants were entitled to a moratorium in the amount of the plaintiffs net recovery, but the plaintiff asserted that the commission lacked jurisdiction to affect his wife’s settlement with the tortfea-sors pursuant to the Supreme Court’s holding in Soracco v. Williams Scotsman, Inc., 292 Conn. 86, 971 A.2d 1 (2009). On May 10, 2010, the commissioner issued his finding and award, concluding that “[t]he . . . [c]om-mission has no jurisdiction over and cannot affect [the] rights [of the plaintiffs wife] with respect to the third party defendants and has no authority to dictate the appropriate terms of settlement.” After the commissioner denied the defendants’ motion to correct the decision, the defendants petitioned for review to the board. On June 3, 2011, the board affirmed the commissioner’s decision. This appeal followed.
On appeal, the defendants first claim that the board erred in affirming the commissioner’s finding that the commission lacked jurisdiction “to review the amount of a spouse’s recovery from a third party claim for loss of consortium when determining the appropriate moratorium due [the defendants].” The defendants contend that, pursuant to this court’s holding in Schiano v. Bliss Exterminating Co., 57 Conn. App. 406, 750 A.2d 1098 (2000), the commissioner has not only the authority but also the obligation to review the subject settlement allocation between the plaintiff and his wife
“The principles that govern our standard of review in workers’ compensation appeals are well established. The conclusions drawn by [the commissioner] from the facts found must stand unless they result from an incorrect application of the law to the subordinate facts or from an inference illegally or unreasonably drawn from them. . . . Neither the review board nor this court has the power to retry facts.” Sellers v. Sellers Garage, Inc., 92 Conn. App. 650, 650-51, 887 A.2d 382 (2005). “The jurisdiction of the commissioner is confined by the [Workers’ Compensation Act (act)] and limited by its provisions. Unless the [a]ct gives the [c]ommissioner the right to take jurisdiction over a claim, it cannot be conferred upon [the commissioner] by the parties either by agreement, waiver or conduct. . . . [B]ecause [a] determination regarding . . . subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law, our review is plenary.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Gamez-Reyes v. Biagi, 136 Conn. App. 258, 269-70, 44 A.3d 197 (2012).
At the outset, we reject the defendants’ argument that Schiano provides that the commissioner must perform a review of a third party settlement as to a consortium allocation. To the contrary, the Schiano court noted that “a commissioner may not dictate the terms or the amount of a loss of consortium claim . . . .” Schiano v. Bliss Exterminating Co., supra, 57 Conn. App. 413. Rather, Schiano stands for the proposition that, pursuant to General Statutes §§ 31-278, 31-293 and
Regardless of our interpretation of Schiano, we determine that the defendants’ claim is foreclosed by our Supreme Court’s subsequent holding in Soracco. That case presented facts substantially similar to those in the present case. In that case, the plaintiff and his wife brought an action against the named defendant after the plaintiff was injured in the course of his employment. Soracco v. Williams Scotsman, Inc., supra, 292 Conn. 87-88. The plaintiff asserted a claim for damages pursuant to § 31-293 and his wife asserted a loss of consortium
Following an unsuccessful mediation attempt, the plaintiffs and the named defendant reached a settlement agreement, without the approval of the employer. Id., 89. “The substance of the settlement agreement was that, in exchange for the withdrawal and release, the [named] defendant would pay the plaintiffs a total sum
On appeal, the court in Soracco determined that “the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to determine whether the allocation of the settlement proceeds was reasonable.” Id., 88. Specifically, that court reasoned that “§ 31-293 (a) does not confer standing on an employer seeking to challenge the allocation of the proceeds of a settlement reached between its injured employee and the tortfeasor. Indeed, the statute protects employers from unilateral settlement agreements by preserving their rights in the face of such agreements and by providing that they cannot be bound by them absent their assent. Section 31-293 does not, however, allow an employer to interfere with a settlement reached between its employee and the tortfeasor, nor does it provide courts with the authority to dictate the appropriate terms of such a settlement.” Id., 96-97.
We are not persuaded by the defendants’ attempts to limit or to distinguish Soracco. The defendants argue that Soracco holds only that the Superior Court does not have the authority to review the reasonableness of a third party settlement allocation, such as that presented in the instant matter. Their contention therefore is that, as implied in Soracco, the commissioner has the authority to review such claims. We disagree.
Soracco was resolved on the ground of standing, our Supreme Court determining that the employer in that
We cannot conclude that the holding in Soracco regarding an employer’s lack of statutory aggrievement does not extend to an employer’s standing before the commission. The court in Soracco expressly held that “[§] 31-293 does not . . . allow an employer to interfere with a settlement reached between its employee and the tortfeasor . . . .’’Id., 96. Under our reading of Soracco, an employer lacks statutory aggrievement to challenge a third party settlement allocation, regardless of whether the challenge is raised before the commission or before the Superior Court. Accordingly, just as § 31-293 does not “provide courts with the authority to dictate the appropriate terms of such a settlement;” id., 97; we likewise determine that the statute does not confer authority on the commissioner to make such determinations.
We already have rejected the defendants’ argument that Schiano mandates review of the reasonableness of a third party settlement allocation as applied to a moratorium. Furthermore, we cannot conclude that the defendants’ decision to withdraw from the tribal court action confers standing on them to proceed before the commission. As our foregoing analysis provides, the defendants lack the necessary statutory aggrievement to establish their standing to contest the allocation. It is apparent from the record that the defendants’ decision to withdraw from the tribal court action resulted from their erroneous assumption that they had standing to seek review of the reasonableness of the settlement allocation before the commission. There is no indication in the record that the defendants were required to withdraw their intervention.
On the basis of our foregoing analysis, we determine that the board properly affirmed the commissioner’s determination that the commission lacked jurisdiction to review the reasonableness of the allocation of third party settlement funds in the present matter.
The commissioner’s memorandum states: “Pursuant to [§] 31-293 the [defendants] . . . are entitled to a moratorium against [the plaintiffs] future [workers’ [compensation benefits in the amount of $2,190,056.37.” Because we construe the defendants’ claim as stating that the board erred in affirming the commissioner’s determination that they had waived their right to a moratorium, we cannot conclude that the board erred in this regard. It is apparent from the commissioner’s decision that he determined that the defendants were entitled to a moratorium. Furthermore, to the extent that the defendants’ claim may be construed as arguing that they did not waive their right to a moratorium of the consortium funds, we likewise reject this claim. The commissioner made no finding that the defendants had waived such a claim.
The defendants further claim that “the commissioner erred in finding, and the board erred in affirming, that the [defendants’] moratorium was only $2,190,056.37.” To the extent that this claim is premised on the argument that the commissioner’s finding of the moratorium amount was improper because he failed to review the settlement allocation pursuant to Schiano, we disagree. As noted, we determine that the commission had no jurisdiction to review the reasonableness of the settlement as to the consortium allocation mad we disagree with the defendants’ broad characterization of our holding in Schiano. Accordingly, we affirm the board’s determination that the commissioner properly determined that the amount of the plaintiffs net recovery was $2,190,056.37 and therefore that the moratorium value was $2,190,056.37.
The decision of the workers’ compensation review board is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
A moratorium is a credit to an employer against its obligation to pay future workers’ compensation benefits to a worker in an amount equal to the net proceeds from the settlement of the worker’s third party personal injury action. See Short v. Connecticut Bank & Trust Co., 60 Conn. App. 362, 363, 759 A.2d 129 (2000).
The defendants argue that the board’s decision in Lesco v. Glass Crafters, No. 3915 CRB-03-98-10 (January 19, 2000), supports their contention that the commissioner has jurisdiction, authority and an obligation to review a settlement allocation. Specifically, they note that Leseo provides that “trial commissioners should closely scrutinize settlements which appear to circumvent reimbursement under [General Statutes] § 31-293.” The defendants argue that “[i]f there was no [j]urisdiction for the [commissioner to perform the review, the [b]oard [in Leseo] would certainly have noted that.” We determine that our Supreme Court’s decision in Soracco controls our disposition of this matter and decline the defendants’ invitation to defer to the board’s interpretation of the commissioner’s authority under § 31-293. See Potvin v. Lincoln Service & Equipment Co., 298 Conn. 620, 650, 6 A.3d 60 (2010) (“it is manifest to our hierarchical judicial system that [our Supreme Court] has the final say on matters of Connecticut law and that the Appellate Court and Superior Court are bound by our [Supreme Court’s] precedent” [internal quotation marks omitted]).
Additionally, the defendants cite a number of other cases, including Cruz v. Montanez, 294 Conn. 357, 984 A.2d 705 (2009), Love v. J. P. Stevens & Co., 218 Conn. 46, 587 A.2d 1042 (1991) and Short v. Connecticut Bank & Trust Co., 60 Conn. App. 362, 759 A.2d 129 (2000), in support of their argument that the commission has jurisdiction to review the reasonableness of a third party settlement with respect to a consortium allocation. We note that those cases are factually inapposite to the present matter as they do not involve review of the reasonableness of a third party settlement that includes a consortium allocation. Moreover, to the extent the defendants rely on those cases as evincing a public policy in favor of the commissioner’s review of the reasonableness of a third party settlement allocation, we reject those arguments as inconsistent with Soracco.
To the extent Schiano permits the commissioner to review a settlement in order to know the amount paid in satisfaction of a consortium claim so as to determine the amount of a claimant’s recovery, that review was performed in the present matter. After reviewing the net settlement recoveries of the plaintiff and his wife, the commissioner determined, and the parties agreed, that the plaintiffs net recovery from the third party settlement was $2,190,056.37. Accordingly, the commissioner concluded that the defendants were entitled to a moratorium against the plaintiffs future workers’ compensation benefits in the amount of $2,190,056.37.
General Statutes § 31-293 (a) provides: “When any injury for which compensation is payable under the provisions of this chapter has been sustained under circumstances creating in a person other than an employer who has complied with the requirements of subsection (b) of section 31-284, a legal liability to pay damages for the injury, 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 the injured employee against such person, but the injured employee may proceed at law against such person to recover damages for the injury; and any employer or the custodian of the Second Injury Fund, having paid, or having become obligated to pay, compensation under the provisions of this chapter may bring an action against such person to recover any amount that he has paid or has become obligated to pay as compensation to the injured employee. If the employee, the employer or the custodian of the Second Injury Fund brings an action against such person, he shall immediately notify the others, in writing, by personal presentation or by registered or certified mail, of the action and of the name of the court to which the writ is returnable, and the others may join as parties plaintiff in the action within thirty days after such notification, and, if the others fail to join as parties plaintiff, their right of action against such person shall abate unless the employer, Insurance carrier or Second Injury Fund gives written notice of a lien in accordance with this subsection. In any case in which an employee brings an action against a party other than an employer who failed to comply with the requirements of subsection (b) of section 31-284, in accordance with the provisions of this section, and the employer is a party defendant in the action, the employer may join as a party plaintiff in the action. The bringing of any action against an employer shall not constitute notice to the employer within the meaning of this section. If the employer and the employee join as parties plaintiff in the action and any damages are recovered, the 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 the recovery, after the deduction of reasonable and necessary expenditures, including attorneys’ fees, incurred by the employee in effecting the recovery. If the action has been brought by the employee, the claim of the employer shall be reduced by one-third of the amount of the benefits to be reimbursed to the employer, unless otherwise agreed upon by the parties, which reduction shall inure solely to the benefit of the employee, except that such reduction shall not apply if the reimbursement is to the state of Connecticut or a political subdivision of the state including a local public agency, as the employer, or the custodian of the Second Injury Fund. The rendition of a judgment in favor of the employee or the employer against the party shall not terminate the employer’s obligation to make further compensation which the commissioner thereafter deems payable to the injured employee. If the damages, after deducting the employee’s expenses as provided in this subsection, 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. No compromise with the person by either
Moreover, the court noted that “the only apparent reason for allowing the employer to intervene in the employee’s action is to protect the employer’s rights in the event of a settlement. In the absence of a settlement, the employer’s rights are completely protected by its judgment lien and its ability to bring an independent cause of action when the employee declines to prosecute his claim. If, for instance, under circumstances similar to those in the present case, the tortfeasor sought to settle the case with the employee and the employee’s spouse for considerably less than the employer’s potential workers’ compensation liability, the employer effectively would be deprived of his right to recover on the lien if it could not pursue a separate cause of action against the tortfeasor.” (Emphasis in original.) Soracco v. Williams Scotsman, Inc., supra, 292 Conn. 95 n.15.
There is some dispute, however, whether the defendants felt pressured to withdraw because the plaintiff and his wife had threatened to pursue litigation against them if the settlement negotiations fell through.
To the extent that the defendants argue that they have not waived any claim to the workers’ compensation benefits paid, we affirm the board’s determination that the commissioner did not err in this regard. Specifically, we agree with the board that the following colloquy supports the commissioner’s determination that the defendants had “waived reimbursement of workers’ compensation benefits paid”:
“[The Commissioner]: Since our last session, I had gone [through] all the material that had previously been submitted. I wanted to clarify a few things. And the first thing that I wanted to clarify was just that the claim that’s*826 before me by the [defendants] is just with respect to a moratorium and there’s no claim for any kind of repayment of any monies that have been paid out, correct?
“[The Defendants’ Counsel]: That’s correct.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.