Indemnification

“ Where several insurance contracts have been made simultaneously or successively with regard to the same subject-matter insured contract and the same events, if the total of the insured amounts exceeds the insurable value, the individual insurer has a joint and several liability up to the amount insured by each one. In this case, each insurer's liability for indemnification is subject to the ratio that the amount insured by each one has to the total insured amounts. ”

“ Where a principal obligor indemnifies the surety in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Article, he may demand of the surety to discharge the obligation for him or request of the surety to furnish security, or he may relieve himself of his liability of indemnification by making a deposit of the amount of indemnification, furnishing security or procuring a discharge of the surety. ”

“ In The Atlas, 93 U.S. 302, 310 (23 L. Ed. 863) , the general rule is laid down that satisfaction for the injury sustained is the true rule of damages, and that by this is meant that the measure of compensation shall be equal to the amount of injury received, to be calculated for the actual loss occasioned by the collision, upon the principle that the sufferer is entitled to complete indemnification for his loss. Complete recompense for the injury is required. ”

“ And the commissioners aforesaid are hereby authorized and empowered to decide on such claims, and to adjudge to every such claimant or claimants the proportion of indemnification to which he or they may be respectively entitled. ”

“ Other definitions.—For purposes of this subsection, the following definitions shall apply: `` (A) Indemnification payment.—Subject to paragraph (6) , the term 'indemnification payment' means any payment (or any agreement to make any payment) by any regulated entity for the benefit of any person who is or was an affiliated party, to pay or reimburse such person for any liability or legal expense with regard to any administrative proceeding or civil action instituted by the Agency which results in a final order under which such person— `` (i) is assessed a civil money penalty ”

“ The commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of March 2d, 1827, to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to indemnification under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, and for the distribution among such claimants of the sum paid by the Government of Great Britain under the convention of November 13th, 1826, closed their labors on August 30th, 1828 last by awarding to the claimants the sum of $1,197,422.18, leaving a balance of $7,537.82, which was distributed ratably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had been made, according to the directions of the act. ”

“ From the very nature of the contract of insurance as a contract of indemnity, the insurer, when he has paid to the assured the amount of the indemnity agreed on between them, is entitled, by way of salvage, to the benefit of anything that may be received, either from the remnants of the goods, or from damages paid by third persons for the same loss. ”

“ The act does not touch the workman’s rights at common law or under the Employers’ Liability Act, but the workman, if more than one remedy is open to him, can enforce only one. When the circumstances create a legal liability in some other person, e.g. where the injury is caused by the negligence of a sub-contractor or of a stranger, in such cases the employer, if required to pay compensation under the act, is entitled to be indemnified by such other person. ”

“ Upon election of the employee to take compensation, the employer is entitled to be subrogated to the rights of the employee against the third person. The insurer, who, as an indemnitor of the employer, and, by the act, stands in the place of the employer, is similarly entitled to subrogation. ”

“ He believes that for the employer's own benefit if there were a statute with a definite scale of damages, providing definitely, and as part of the employment contract if necessary, with a certain small deduction from the wages, that there should be insurance, that the master should be actually liable on a fixed scale for all injuries suffered while in his employment not in disobedience to his orders or solely and grossly negligent, it would be far better both for employer and employee. ”

“ Moreover, the same regard is shown for those, who, besides the person injured, may suffer from an accident; for example, if a servant girl has been helping her parents in the payment of taxes and the like, an injury to her gives them a just claim for compensation. If an employer has neglected to insure an injured employee, he is liable for the compensation; and if the damage is not covered by this compensation, the remaining amount is recoverable from the insurance companies. ”

“ Moreover, respondent is a compensated surety, whose premiums the employer is required to pay by section 32 (33 U.S.C.A. § 932) . The rule that any modification of the principal obligation releases the surety is also abated in the case of a compensated surety or indemnitor, who is discharged only so far as his right is shown to be in fact prejudiced by action of the indemnitee. One who engages in the business of insurance for compensation may properly be held more rigidly to his obligation to indemnify the insured than one whose suretyship is an undertaking uncompensated and casual. ”

“ Sixty-five joint-stock insurance companies did workmen's compensation business with employers having a wage-roll exceeding £600,000,000 a year, and their annual premium income in respect of the workmen's compensation risk was well over £5,000,000. Further, there were about 50 mutual indemnity associations which insured their members against the workmen's compensation risk and paid about £2,000,000 a year in compensation. The majority of employers in several of the most important industries in the country covered their risks by this means. ”

“ If this worker re-joins the Labor Insurance and upon the collection of the Old-Aged Benefits, the insurer shall deduct his/her compensation received previously for the loss of years of insurance coverage and return the amount to the superior authority of the Original Authority without being subject to the restrictions set forth in Article 29 of the Labor Insurance Act, whereby the insured’s or beneficiary’s right to receive insurance pay may not be subject to transfer, offset, attachment or guarantee. ”

“ Of what value would a compensation law be to the workman in the State of Illinois particularly, where we have no employers' liability law, if the gate were left open for the insurance company or the mutual benefit company, or if the employer could bring in the old common law doctrine of contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and so forth? What would prevent the employer or the insurance company, if we did not repeal those laws, from bringing those in and keeping the workingman out of his compensation under a compensation law? ”

“ Section 3 of the first Federal Employers' Liability Act [1] passed by Congress in 1906 provided that 'no contract of employment, insurance, relief benefit, or indemnity for injury or death entered into by or on behalf of any employee, nor the acceptance of any such insurance, relief benefit, or indemnity by the person entitled thereto, shall constitute any bar or defense to any action brought to recover damages for personal injuries to or death of such employee. ”

“ That cannot be said to be an unreasonable classification, as it provides for those cases where there are no persons entitled to compensation under the act, and thus the immediate employer and his insurer are relieved of the obligation to pay compensation. ”

“ In short, the right to maintenance, cure and wages, implied in law as a contractual obligation arising out of the nature of the employment, is independent of the right to indemnity or compensatory damages for an injury caused by negligence ”

“ Under no circumstances were they to be held liable to their own employees for more than the compensation clearly fixed in the Act. Thus employers were given every reason to believe they could buy their insurance and make other business arrangements on the basis of the limited Compensation Act liability. More than that, § 33 of the Act also provides that for compensation paid an employee an employer shall himself be reimbursed or indemnified out of any money collected as a result of an employee's claim for negligent injury by a third person. ”

“ The Compensation Act establishes a scheme for compensation of an injured employee by the employer, and for the payment of benefits to a specified class of his dependents when the injury causes death. Where some person other than the employer is liable for damages for the injury, compensation is governed by section 33. ”

“ In the case where the employee survives and accepts compensation as the only person entitled, it is clear that the statutory assignment vests in the employer the full right to recover damages from the third person. ”

“ If the insured does obtain any sum in excess of indemnity, he is regarded as holding it in trust for his whole body of underwriters. It thus appears that in case of multiple insurance each underwriter is bound, as between himself and the other underwriters, to contribute to the loss rateably in proportion to the amount of his liability under the policy; and if any one pays more than his proper share, he is entitled to sue the rest for contribution. ”

“ Stipulations constituting a waiver on the part of the workman of the indemnities to which he may become entitled by reason of labor accidents or occupational diseases, damages for breach of contract, or for discharge from work. ”

“ It is the intent of the Workmen's Compensation Law that an employee, injured in the course of his employment, shall have relief in all cases where he would have had a right of action at common law, and, in addition thereto, to extend his right to recover in other cases, regardless of questions of negligence, contributory negligence, or assumption of risk. ”

“ There is no basis in past decisions of this or any other court for the holding that one who undertakes to do a job for another and is not negligent in any respect nevertheless has an insurer's absolute liability to indemnify for liability to injured workers which the party who hired the job done may incur. ”

“ It assumes that. The explanation seems to be that the practice of the underwriter to pay the contribution has been so uniform, and his liability has been so fully recognized, that express provisions were needless. But one result has been that very differing views of the ground of the obligation have been held. One view has been that it is covered by the sue and labour clause of an ordinary policy, by which the insurer agrees to bear his proportion of expenses voluntarily incurred “in and about the defence, safeguard and recovery” of the insured subject. ”

“ Their employees may, nevertheless, elect to claim compensation, and if it is awarded, an action to recover the amount may be maintained against the employer. Such an action may also be maintained against a self-insuring employer who fails to pay an award.
Should an employer who is subject to the Act fail to pay premiums, or otherwise omit to comply, means are provided to fix civil liability upon him, even to the extent of the appointment of a receiver of his business. ”

“ The amount of the compensation is either fixed by law, or adjusted to the amount of wages which the employee has been receiving, or determined by a state board. It is paid in installments, so much per week for a set period of time. In addition, an injured workman receives medical attention without any expense to himself. The employer usually arranges with a liability insurance company or with the state insurance department to pay this compensation in return for an annual premium which he remits to the company or to the insurance department as the case may be. ”

“ Apart from statute, the indemnitor's right by subrogation to stand in the place of his indemnitee, who is entitled to a part only of the proceeds of a single cause of action, does not carry with it any authority to maintain the action in his own name. ”

“ This right of the insurer is not contingent upon the loss having been total, or upon its having been followed by an abandonment, but rests upon the ground that his contract is in the nature of a contract of indemnity, and that he is therefore entitled, upon paying a sum for which others are primarily liable to the assured, to be proportionally subrogated to his right of action against them. ”

“ Chairman, just as reasonable to assume and why is it in conflict with any theory of natural justice to say that if an employer seeks to employ a man in a hazardous trade or in any trade, he shall compensate him to a reasonable extent; he shall guarantee to him a limited compensation and that he shall guarantee him against the consequences of an injury while he is engaged in that employment? Will not the courts read into that bill practically that contract of guaranty? ”

“ XIV. Employers shall be liable for labor accidents and occupational diseases arising from work; therefore, employers shall pay the proper indemnity, according to whether death or merely temporary or permanent disability has ensued, in accordance with the provisions of law. This liability shall remain in force even though the employer contract for the work through an agent. ”

“ Provided, That such compensation, insurance, and maintenance and support allowance shall be subject to any claims which the United States may have, under Titles II, III, IV, and V, against the person on whose account the compensation, insurance, or maintenance and support allowance is payable. ”

“ The statute declares there shall be a conclusive presumption that both employer and employee accept its provisions, unless one of them makes written statement to the contrary. Every employer, liable to pay such compensation, unless exempted by the board, is required to insure payment in the state workmen's insurance fund or some authorized insurance company. ”