A common example of a work comp. injury with third party liability is an on-the-job auto accident. If an employee is traveling to a work-related function for the employer and is involved in a car accident due to the fault of another, the employee will probably be entitled to workers' compensation benefits for his or her injuries, but may also be permitted to file suite against the other driver under a third party claim for damages.

Another common example of third-party liability is in construction. If an employee is working on a large construction project and becomes injured from the neglect of another (such as an employee of another firm or sub-contractor) they may have a claim against that other firm or the general contractor who is in charge of safety on the job site.

Like a workers' compensation claim, in most cases the third-party claim must be filed within two years of the date of the accident. In some cases involving a defect in design or machinery, the Statute of Limitations may extend up to ten years from the date the product was placed into use. An attorney should be consulted immediately regarding the limitations on any case as these are very fact sensitive issues.

INDIANA WORK COMP HANDBOOK

The injuries at the time of reporting were not thought to be life-threatening. The driver and a passenger in the truck were not injured in the collision. Immediately following the collision, police shut down portions of SR 13 between 226th Street and 256th Street while crews cleared debris from the accident.

Adam Childers, a 340 lb. cook employed by Boston's The Gourmet Pizza, of Schererville was originally injured by a freezer door. He treating surgeons testified that while he needed back surgery, the surgery would not be successful unless he first had weight-loss surgery. The employer, Boston's, argued it shouldn't have to pay because Childers' weight was a pre-existing condition, but the Indiana Workers' Compensation Board and the Court said the company had to pay because his weight and the accident created a single and continuous injury.

Although this procedure is not the type of surgery one might expect to be covered under a Worker’s Compensation claim, one Indiana pizza store has learned that its insurer will do just that. Boston's, a pizza shop in Schererville, Indiana, was told by an Indiana Appellate Court that its insurer will pay for an employee’s weight loss surgery and a subsequent back surgery. The issue arose after 25-year old and then 340 lb. (he is now listed at 380lbs.) Adam Childers was injured on the job.

Childers was injured in March 2007, when he was hit by the freezer door in the kitchen of Boston’s Gourmet Pizza. The injury, which caused him to fall down, caused Childers heavy back pain that spread to his legs and was said to require an operation. The twist to this story came in when Childers was medically advised that this operation wouldn’t be successful unless he lost some weight. In fact, according to at least one physician's testimony, there was a possibility that if he lost enough weight the back surgery might even turn out to be unnecessary.

Medical testimony offered during the Worker's Compensation Board Hearing, however, demonstrated that Childers was unable to lose weight on his own during the period he had his accident, and so his weight situation at that time, when added to the incident, was found to create a “single injury” under a worker's compensation claim that made him eligible for both the Lap-Band procedure and the subsequent back surgery.

The Westchester County Medical Examiner released toxicology reports conducted on 36-year-old Diane Schuler following the deadly July 26th crash along the Taconic State Parkway in Briarcliff Manor. The report noted that Schuler's blood-alcohol level was .19%. The legal limit in New York is .08%. Although no criminal charges are anticipated in light of Schuler's death, the Westchester County District Attorney, Janet DiFiore, indicated that her office, accompanied by the New York State Police, will continue to investigate the facts surrounding the collision that caused eight deaths. DiFiore justified the continued investigation noting that she wanted the public and the families of the victims to "understand what lead to this horrific crash".

Among the victims of Schuler's actions were her 2-year-old daughter and three nieces. According to initial reports, Schuler, her daughter and her three nieces were returning home to West Babylon, Long Island, from a camping trip in upstate New York when she traveled nearly two miles against oncoming traffic before colliding head-on with a Chevrolet Trail Blazer driven by Guy Bastardi.

Bastardi was traveling with his father, Michael, and family friend, Daniel Longo. All three men were killed by the head-on collision.

The only survivor of the accident was Schuler's 5-year-old son, Bryan. Bryan is listed in stable condition at Westchester Medical Center, where he continues to receive medical care.

The Hendricks County Sheriff's Department reported that a 59 year old woman driving a mid-sized SUV entered I-74 from an exit ramp at Ronald Reagan Parkway near Avon, placing her in the wrong lane travelling into the path of oncoming traffic. Eye-witnesses reported that the woman struck a semi near its rear axle, and her vehicle was sent airborne whereupon it struck another semi-tractor trailer head-on.

According the Hendrick's County Sheriff's Department, the woman was driving a Jeep Cherokee. She was killed instantly upon impact; however, neither semi driver was reportedly injured. Police were not yet reporting the driver's name.

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Luke Lovins, 21, the driver of the vehicle in which Ford was riding, was pronounced dead at the scene. Lovins had been driving eastbound in his 2005 Chevrolet Malibu with four passengers, including Ford, when a westbound 2000 Ford pickup truck driven by Alfredo Luviano Martinez, 31, of St. Louis, crossed the median and hit them head on.

Thomas F. Ford, 53, Coatesville, remained in critical condition late Sunday at Wishard Memorial Hospital. Debora S. Ford, 50, and Chandler B. Ford, 13, both of Coatesville, Indiana, were taken to Methodist on Saturday and were listed in critical condition.

Martinez was treated at Methodist and released Saturday. Police said his pickup truck might have blown a tire just before the crash. Martinez was not cited, and alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the fatal collision.

Smith's children, Abigail and Cameron, were transported by helicopter to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, where they were listed in critical condition late Sunday. Their father, Chris Smith, has been competing in the PGA since 1991.

A family friend of the Gabrieles, Susan Manuszak, told police that when she went to the Gabriele home in Granger Monday morning, she found a suicide note. She called police and met them at the Gabriele Eye Institute Office in Elkhart, where the bodies were located.

The deaths were discovered on the day the Gabrieles were puportedly to turn themselves in to law enforcement to face the alleged health care fraud charges.

Drake was initially taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital, but was later transferred in critical condition to a Fort Wayne facility. Police reported in a press release that she was scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday morning.

Shrenker continues to deny the fact that his jump was a suicide attempt. In a telephone interview with ABC's "Good Morning America", Schrenker said his plane crashed as a result of "clear air turbulence". He claims to have sustained injury as a result of the turbulence.

A federal judge has set a hearing on Thursday to determine whether Schrenker is competent to stand trial on criminal charges resulting from the crash and his alleged financial misdoings. Schrenker told Good Morning America that he has had mental problems for years, and "[t]here was clearly something going on mentally with me starting in 2007". Shrenker went on to tell ABC that family members attempted to have him hospitalized just days prior to his crash, but he had refused. On January 13, 2009, Schrenker was arrested at a Florida KOA campground. This was just two days after he apparently bailed out of his plane over Alabama. According to media reports, Shrenker was attempting to flee family and financial issues that had come to a head at the beginning of the New Year. Shrenker was found in a tent semiconscious and bleeding heavily from self-inflicted knife wounds to his wrist.