Wahpepah v. Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma

OPALA, Justice.

¶ 1 The dispositive question we are asked to decide today is whether an insurer who has accepted workers’ compensation policy premiums computed on the claimant’s salary may deny the insured’s status as a covered employer. We answer in the negative.

¶2 Auchee Wahpepah (Wahpepah or claimant) sought benefits for injuries sustained in an automobile accident while she was employed by the Kiekapoo Tribe of Oklahoma (Tribe). Tribe had secured a workers’ compensation policy from the State Insurance Fund (Fund). Fund’s answer to Wah-pepah’s claim denies that the accident arose out of and…