Sourbier v. State

ANDREASEN, Justice.

Iowa’s workers’ compensation law provides that an employer, or the employer’s insurer, who has paid compensation to an employee, shall be indemnified out of the recovery of damages paid to the injured employee by a third party and shall have a lien on the claim for such recovery and the judgment thereon for the compensation for which the employer or insurer is liable. Iowa Code § 85.22(1) (1989). In this case we must decide if the recovery of a damage award for pain and suffering is subject to the statutory lien. In a declaratory judgment action, the district court…