Travelers Insurance Co. v. Houck

Hall, Judge.

“It is . . . elementary that the claimant should not be allowed to keep the entire amount both of his compensation award and of his common law damage recovery. The obvious disposition of the matter is to give the employer so much of the negligence recovery as is necessary to reimburse him for his compensation outlay, and give the employee the excess. This is fair to everyone concerned: the employer, who, in a fault sense, is neutral, comes out even; the third person pays exactly the damages he would normally pay, which is correct, since to reduce his burden because of the relation…