Legal Question in Workers Comp in California
My husband was working as a night watchman,and part of his duties was to ride a golf cart around to check storage buidings,to check one of the buildings he had to drive across a hwy,the golf cart had no lights and was not street legal,in June of 2008 he was crossing the hwy at one in the morning and was hit by a car,this was a hit and run,and the driver of the car was not found,my husband has retained a lawyer for the the injuries and still has an active case,my question,Can he sue the employer for unsafe equipment?,or is there a statue of limitations on this type of case?....Thank you for your time :-)
1 Answer from Attorneys
He cannot sue the employer. That is the essence of the workers' comp. system. However, if a third party was responsible for the equipment,or owned the equipment, then he can sue the third party. At issue is whether or not your husband waved his right to sue by using equipment he knew to be unsafe. Rember California is a comparative negligence state. If your husband's negligence was over 50% of the cause of the accident, then perhaps the third party may be able to sue him for damages to the cart, etc.
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