Employer Can't Recover Benefits Paid to Worker Through Indemnity Agreement

The Hawaii Supreme Court last week unanimously ruled that an employer cannot recover workers' compensation payments under a contractual indemnification provision with a third-party tortfeasor that causes injury to its own employee. In Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. v. Fujikawa Associates, the court concluded that the comprehensive workers' compensation reimbursement scheme established by Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 386-8 provides the exclusive remedy for an employer's recovery of workers' compensation benefits paid for its employee where injury is allegedly attrib...