Ocean S. S. Co. v. Lumbermens Mut. Casualty Co.

CLARK, Circuit Judge.

The sole question in this case is whether an employer who has paid compensation to an injured employee gets reimbursement out of the proceeds of a third-party action by the employee without proportionately sharing the cost of attorney’s fees. The district court decided that the plaintiff employer did not, D.C.S.D.N.Y., 39 F.Supp. 51, and it has appealed. We think this result is untenable under the governing statute. New York Workmen’s Compensation Law, § 29, Consol.Laws, c. 67.

The controlling provision of this statute is subdivision 1, which took its present form in 1937.…