The proposition seems straight forward enough. If you are driving while on the job and you are involved in an accident that is not your fault, then you would have a possible workers compensation claim and a possible personal injury claim. The reasonable assumption would be that if you have two claims, then you would get the double the award, right? Well the answer to that is not exactly a yes—it is more of a “it depends” answer.
Yes, you would be entitled to two awards, but not double the amount. The reason for this, is that your two claims would be governed by two separate types of law. Essentially, you would have two claims and they would not be against the same adverse party nor for the same types of damages. You would have a personal injury claim against the driver that hit you and a workers’ compensation claim against your employer’s insurance carrier. The way that this generally works is that we would handle the worker’s compensation claim first. After that part of your case is done and settled, then we would proceed with the personal injury portion of your claim. Whereas your workers’ compensation claim is an administrative action filed with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, your personal injury claim will be against the driver who hit you and filed in the court/judicial system.
What are you entitled to recover under workers’ compensation?
Workers’ Comp. is a statutory framework created by the Mississippi State Legislature as a mechanism for injured workers to get the following benefits following an injury while in the course of employment:
- Your employer’s insurance carrier is supposed to pay for your medical treatment;
- Checks for 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage while you are off from work;
- Once you finish treatment, your doctor will place you at what is called Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) which means that you will be medically as good as you can get. If you are not 100% better, you will have some sort of impairment rating and we will attempt to get a settlement with your employer’s carrier based on that impairment rating.
- Unfortunately, in Mississippi, you are not entitled to pain and suffering under workers’ compensation.
What are you entitled to recover in Personal Injury Claim?
After we complete the workers’ compensation portion of your case, we’ll proceed with the personal injury claim against the actual negligent individual that caused the car accident. Here is where the two claims differ. In a personal injury claim, you are entitled to pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of consortium, and lost opportunities—all of which are not recoverable under workers’ compensation. Additionally, where there is a cap in the amount of damages you can receive in workers’ comp cases based on your wage and injury, there is generally no cap in personal injury cases. So, while you are entitled to two types of awards, it does not necessarily mean they are twice the amount. Basically, it depends.
Contact the Personal Injury Attorneys at ‘’MAGGIO LAW Today!
If you or a loved one have been involved in motor vehicle accident while working in Mississippi and sustained injuries, contact the experienced and serious personal injury attorneys at ‘’MAGGIO LAW.