Division of Risk Management v. Nationwide Insurance Co.

ERVIN, Judge.

The Division of Risk Management, the workers’ compensation carrier for the employer of an injured employee, appeals an order of equitable distribution, requiring it to pay 95 percent of all future workers’ compensation benefits to Enid Rathburn, the claimant-employee, notwithstanding Rathburn’s earlier settlement agreement with the third-party tortfeasors in a personal injury action. We find that the lower court erred in its application of the statutory requirements of Section 440.39, Florida Statutes (1979), and reverse and remand.

In November 1980, Rathburn, an employee of the…