Sladek v. K Mart Corp.

HARRIS, Justice.

An Iowa statute, Iowa Code § 85.22 (1991), 1 grants employers subrogation rights in tort recoveries obtained by their employees, to the extent the employees have been paid workers’ compensation benefits for the same injuries. The injured employee here sought such a tort recovery, the proceeds of which would clearly have been subject to her employer’s subrogation rights. The dispute arises because the facts vary in one crucial respect from the usual pattern. The question is whether subrogation attaches where the employee’s recovery is not directly for the tort, but rather for…