Workers’ Compensation – Jurisdiction – Reimbursement – Two Injuries – Two Employers

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Price v. Peachtree Electrical Services, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-189-11, 4 pp.) (Aphrodite K. Konduros, J.) Appealed from Georgetown County Circuit Court. (Benjamin H. Culbertson, J.) S.C. App. Click here for the full-text opinion.

Holding: Plaintiff suffered back injuries while working for successive employers. Instead of filing a new workers’ compensation claim with his second employer, he sought and received additional benefits from his first employer. The first employer’s claim for reimbursement from the second employer is not within the jurisdiction of the Workers’ Compensation Commission.

We vacate the reimbursement order.

The Commission’s authority is circumscribed by the Workers’ Compensation Act. Only disputes ancillary to an employee’s right to compensation arise under the Act. Claims not affecting the employee’s right to compensation are within the purview of the circuit court, not the Commission.

In this case, the claim presented is a common law, equitable claim for reimbursement made by Peachtree Electrical Services, an employer, against Bob Wire Electrical, another employer. The matter directly in contention does not affect the claimant’s right to compensation. He has been completely compensated for the 2002 accident pursuant to the clincher agreement between himself and Peachtree, and any future benefits for which Bob Wire may be liable are a separate and distinct matter from any benefits Peachtree may have paid previously. Therefore, the Commission lacked subject matter jurisdiction to determine Peachtree’s right to reimbursement from Bob Wire, and that claim should have been dismissed.