Legal Question in Workers Comp in Indiana

Workers' Compensation for Executive Employees

Is there any case showing that high level executives/company owners are covered under workers' comp. coverage? My atty. & I are searching wildly for cases to argue in front of the Board in a couple of weeks. We cannot find any cases that clearly show executive coverage; only blue collar and worker standard 9-5 M-F cases. I was hit head on by a tri axle truck and severly injured. Employed and owned through default judgment the corp. (dentist office) I was doing market research and was a full time employee for 10 working days on the day of accident 4-96. Made claim in Aug. and employer filed in Oct. 96. I had no knowledge of how work comp was to be handled. Lib. Mutual - carrier has denied say I was not employee. Can you help me - my med. bills exceed $400,000 roughly-of course liberty does not want to pay? I need "executive claim cases" for ref. Thanks


Asked on 4/27/98, 12:29 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bill Barger Law Offices of Bill Barger

executive claims

Read Hanna, California Law ofEmployee Injuries and Workers' Compensation, Vol. 2, sect.21.03[4][b], page 21-29. When a worker is determined NOT to be an employee, he is excluded from workers' compensation benefits; however, he retains the right to maintain a civil action for damasges against the purported employer. (Labor Code sect. 3351 and cases cited) However, the exact title the employer applies to your position isn't necessarily determinative--Read that section and those following for possible grounds to prove you are an employee, after all.

Hanna is a standard authority in the field, available in virtually all law libraries.

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Answered on 5/23/98, 1:47 pm


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