Section 7.13 Federal Subrogation Claims

• Library: Insurance Practice 2015

The federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. ch. 18, preempts all state subrogation law in cases concerning employment contracts that provide both for employee health care benefits and subrogation. Missouri law does not defeat the subrogation rights contained in such employment contracts. Baxter ex rel. Baxter v. Lynn, 886 F.2d 182 (8^th Cir. 1989); see alsoDavis v. Line Constr. Benefit Fund, 589 F. Supp. 146 (W.D. Mo. 1984).

The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and the Lake of the Ozarks are under federal navigable waters jurisdiction. The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 901, et seq., contains subrogation and assignment provisions when third persons are liable for injuries to a claimant. 33 U.S.C. § 933.

The subrogation provisions for federal employees’ workers’ compensation claims are contained in 5 U.S.C. § 8131.

Other examples of federal subrogation claims include claims of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is...