Hawkins v. COM./SOUTHSIDE VA. TRAINING

In this appeal, we construe Code § 65.2-313, a statute added in 1994 to the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act, Code §§ 65.2-100 through -1310. We consider whether a circuit court, and not the Workers’ Compensation Commission, in ruling upon an employer’s petition for reimbursement of compensation benefits paid, has jurisdiction to decide the amount of an employee’s future benefits, when the employee has recovered from a third-party tortfeasor a sum greater than the amount of the past benefits.

On February 7, 1994, appellant Thelma E. Hawkins, the employee, sustained a compensable back injury…