Executrix of estate of worker who died as a result of complications from mesothelioma sought determination of whether town and state, which had employed worker as a custodian and an analyst, respectively, were entitled under the Workers’ Compensation Act to lien on proceeds from product-liability settlements that executrix had received from manufacturers and suppliers of asbestos-containing products.
An ALJ for the Eighth District of the Workers’ Compensation Commission determined that state and town were entitled to lien on the net amount of the tort settlement proceeds recovered for both occupational and nonoccupational asbestos exposure to offset the workers’ compensation benefits awarded, and the Compensation Review Board affirmed that determination.
Executrix appealed to Appellate Court, and case was transferred to Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that town and state were entitled to a lien on the settlement proceeds, regardless of whether those settlements were for the worker’s occupational or nonoccupational exposure to asbestos.
Pursuant to Workers’ Compensation Act, town and state, which had employed worker as a custodian and analyst, respectively, were entitled to a lien on the net amount of product-liability settlement proceeds that were paid to executrix of worker’s estate, in both executrix’s representative and personal capacity, following worker’s death from mesothelioma and that were attributable to both occupational and nonoccupational exposure of worker to asbestos; worker’s mesothelioma had a direct causal connection to his employment, even though it was caused in part by worker’s exposure to asbestos outside of work, and the tortfeasors were persons with a legal liability to pay damages for the work-related injury.