IRVING, J., for the Court.
¶ 1. Bridgett Blakeney was employed by the Laurel Housing Authority (LHA) when she was injured in a work-related car accident. Blakeney initially received workers' compensation payments for her injuries. After the LHA's workers' compensation insurance company went bankrupt, Blakeney's workers' compensation payments became the responsibility of the Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association (MIGA). Thereafter, MIGA filed a motion with the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission (Commission) requesting permission to suspend benefit payments to Blakeney. MIGA sought suspension of benefits until it had received credit for a total of seventy thousand dollars which was the amount that Blakeney had received from solvent insurance companies: ten thousand dollars from the insurance company covering the third party driver at fault and sixty thousand dollars from the insurance company providing liability and uninsured motorist coverage for the LGA.
¶ 2. The motion was heard by an administrative law judge, who found that MIGA was entitled to the full setoff of seventy thousand dollars minus Blakeney's costs and expenses incurred in recovering the seventy thousand dollars. Both Blakeney and the LGA appealed to the Commission. The Commission, applying the provisions of Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-71
¶ 3. Feeling aggrieved, MIGA appeals and asserts: (1) that the exhaustion provision of the Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association Law (MIGAL), found in Mississippi Code Annotated section 83-23-123 (Rev.1999), requires a claimant to exhaust solvent uninsured motorist coverage before collecting from MIGA on an insolvent worker's compensation claim; (2) that Cossitt v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., 551 So.2d 879 (Miss.1989) does not preclude MIGA from receiving a statutory credit under section 83-23-123; (3) that MIGA is entitled to a one-hundred-thousand-dollar credit, which MIGA alleges is the "net face amount of the available solvent insurance"; and (4) that MIGA's credit should not be reduced by the amount of attorney's fees and expenses incurred by Blakeney.
¶ 4. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.
¶ 5. Blakeney was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a coworker on June 3, 2002, when the vehicle was involved in an accident with a vehicle driven by Ray Arrington. It is undisputed that the accident was Arrington's fault. As a result of the accident, Blakeney suffered serious injuries.
¶ 6. Arrington was insured by a policy through Progressive Gulf Insurance Company. Blakeney ultimately received ten thousand dollars from Progressive, which was the full value of Arrington's policy. Blakeney was covered by the LHA's insurance. The LHA had uninsured motorist coverage through Coregis Insurance Company. When a demand was made to Coregis, Coregis refused to cover Blakeney's injuries, arguing that the LHA had rejected uninsured motorist coverage in writing. As a result of Coregis's refusal to pay, Blakeney filed suit against Coregis in the Jones County Circuit Court. Coregis moved for summary judgment, but the circuit court denied the motion. Thereafter, Coregis sought an interlocutory appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court, and while the appeal was pending, Coregis and Blakeney entered into settlement negotiations, the result of which was that Coregis paid Blakeney sixty thousand dollars to settle her claims.
¶ 7. Beyond the payments from Progressive and Coregis, Blakeney was also receiving workers' compensation benefits from Legion Insurance Company, the LHA's workers' compensation carrier. On July 25, 2003, Legion was declared insolvent by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. As a result, Legion's obligations were taken over by MIGA, which was created by the Mississippi Legislature as a non-profit association to pay covered insurance claims after a carrier has become insolvent. On November 20, 2007, MIGA filed a motion with the Commission, requesting permission to suspend benefit payments to Blakeney. In the motion, MIGA alleged that Blakeney had received or would receive seventy thousand dollars in benefits from the Progressive and Coregis policies. MIGA further alleged that it was entitled to credit for the seventy thousand dollars because of the MIGAL's exhaustion provision. In so arguing, MIGA acknowledged that the Mississippi Supreme Court had not yet ruled on "whether the exhaustion statute applies to solvent uninsured motorist policies such as the Coregis policy." MIGA also acknowledged
¶ 8. MIGA's motion was first heard by an administrative law judge, who ruled that MIGA was entitled to a credit of seventy thousand dollars due to the amounts that Blakeney had received from the other insurance companies. Both Blakeney and MIGA appealed the judge's decision to the Commission. On July 10, 2008, after a March 17, 2008, hearing, the Commission issued an order, wherein it found: (1) that MIGA was bound by the provisions of section 71-3-71, rather than by MIGAL alone; (2) that "MIGA has stepped into the shoes of Legion, and not only has all the same rights as Legion would have, but the same `obligations' as well"; (3) that MIGA was entitled to an offset for the ten thousand dollars from Progressive "after first deducting the reasonable costs of collection," which the Commission found was four thousand dollars in attorney's fees; and (4) that MIGA was not entitled to any offset from the sixty thousand dollars that Blakeney received from Coregis. MIGA then appealed the Commission's ruling to the Jones County Circuit Court, which affirmed the Commission's decision and found that "the decision of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission was supported by substantial evidence and . . . properly applied the law to the facts. . . ."
¶ 9. Additional facts will be related, as necessary, during our analysis and discussion of the issues.
¶ 10. Because this is a workers' compensation case, our standard of review is limited and highly deferential:
Total Transp., Inc. of Miss. v. Shores, 968 So.2d 400, 403-04(¶ 15) (Miss.2007) (quoting Weatherspoon v. Croft Metals, Inc., 853 So.2d 776, 778(¶ 6) (Miss.2003)). Furthermore, as the Total Transportation court explained:
Id. at 404(¶ 15) (quoting Hale v. Ruleville Health Care Ctr., 687 So.2d 1221, 1224-25 (Miss. 1997)). We note that this standard of review has also been applied in at least one workers' compensation case involving MIGA. See Miss. Ins. Guar. Ass'n v. Brewer, 922 So.2d 807, 811(¶ 13) (Miss.Ct. App.2005). We also remain cognizant of the fact that "[d]ue to the beneficent purposes of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Act, we construe the statutes liberally in favor of injured workers." ABC Mfg. Corp. v. Doyle, 749 So.2d 43, 47(¶ 17) (Miss.1999) (citing Metal Trims Indus., Inc., 562 So.2d at 1297; Big "2" Engine Rebuilders v. Freeman, 379 So.2d 888, 889 (Miss. 1980)).
¶ 11. In Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association v. Goldin Properties, Inc., 893 So.2d 1062, 1063(¶ 3) (Miss.Ct. App.2004), this Court briefly discussed the history of MIGA and its creation:
¶ 12. We find that issues one and two essentially require us to answer two questions: (1) which code section, section 83-23-123 or section 71-3-71, governs the amount of credit that MIGA is entitled to receive from the proceeds paid by solvent insurance companies on behalf of the third party tortfeasor and on behalf of the employer under the uninsured motorist provision of the employer's policy, and (2) if section 71-3-71 applies, is the LGA or its uninsured motorist insurance carrier a third party within the meaning of the statute? Therefore, we discuss issues one and two as a single issue.
¶ 13. MIGA asserts that the exhaustion provision found in section 83-23-123 should control over section 71-3-71 of the Workers' Compensation Act. Section 83-23-123(1) reads:
Section 71-3-71 reads, in pertinent part:
Essentially, section 71-3-71 gives a carrier the right to intervene in a related lawsuit and also prevents a covered employee from gaining a "double" recovery if the employee receives benefits from a third party.
¶ 14. However, the ability of a workers' compensation carrier to recover insurance proceeds has been limited by case law. Relevant to this case is the Mississippi Supreme Court's holding in Cossitt, wherein the court found, in pertinent part, as follows:
Cossitt, 551 So.2d at 885-87 (emphasis added) (overruled on other grounds). The explicit holding of Cossitt is that a workers' compensation carrier has no claim to uninsured motorist benefits received by an injured employee.
¶ 15. Mississippi Code Annotated section 83-23-115(1)(b) (Rev.1999) states that: "[MIGA] shall . . . [b]e deemed the insurer to the extent of its obligation on the covered claims and to such extent shall have all rights, duties, and obligations of the insolvent insurer as if the insurer had not become insolvent." (Emphasis added). As our supreme court has stated, MIGA
¶ 16. Because MIGA steps into the shoes of an insolvent carrier and is bound by the "rights, duties, and obligations of the insolvent insurer," we find no error with the Commission's finding that MIGA is not entitled to the sixty thousand dollars that Blakeney has received from the LHA's uninsured motorist coverage. Under Cossitt, such recovery is explicitly forbidden. MIGA's contentions that it should be bound only by the exhaustion provision of MIGAL are without merit. Nothing in the language of section 83-23-123(1) indicates that the exhaustion provision supercedes any other law regarding a carrier's right to recovery.
¶ 17. MIGA claims that section 83-23-123(1) and section 71-3-71 are "entirely different" statutes with "entirely different remedial purposes." As such, MIGA claims that the two statutes should not be construed together. Essentially, MIGA claims that the broad language of section 83-23-123(1) should apply in every case in which MIGA becomes involved, regardless of what sort of claims are at issue and regardless of whether the insolvent carrier would have been entitled to a similar offset had it not become insolvent. MIGA claims that the doctrine of in pari materia, which means that "each section of the Code dealing with the same or similar subject matter must be read together so that the legislative intent can be determined," does not apply in this case. James v. State, 731 So.2d 1135, 1138(¶ 11) (Miss.1999) (citing Miss. Pub. Serv. Comm'n v. Mun. Energy Agency of Miss., 463 So.2d 1056, 1058 (Miss.1985)). We disagree. In the context of workers' compensation claims handled by MIGA, section 83-23-123(1) and section 71-3-71 deal with "similar subject matter" such that they must be considered together. We note that MIGA itself has argued before this Court that the provisions of section 71-3-71 should apply to MIGA's benefit. Brewer, 922 So.2d at 810(¶ 7). MIGA provides no compelling reason for why the provisions of section 71-3-71 should apply to MIGA only when the section is to MIGA's benefit, rather than its detriment.
¶ 18. MIGA also claims that section 83-23-123(1) should apply because "[t]he Guaranty Act and its exhaustion provisions are more specific and narrow than the broader Worker's [sic] Compensation Law and its [section] 71-3-71." MIGA claims that this is so because section 83-23-123(1) deals only with the "obligations of MIGA. . . ." We decline to find that section 83-23-123(1) is any narrower or more specific than section 71-3-71. Section 83-23-123(1) contains a very broad exhaustion provision, which would apply in every case involving MIGA if we were to accept MIGA's arguments. By contrast, section 71-3-71 discusses the specific rights of a workers' compensation carrier to intervene in and receive the proceeds of an employee's recovery from third party tortfeasors. MIGA's contentions to the contrary are without merit.
¶ 19. MIGA submits multiple other arguments as to why it should receive a credit for the amount of uninsured motorist benefits that Blakeney has received. In addition to alleging that the workers' compensation statutes should not apply to MIGA because of the provisions found in MIGAL, MIGA contends that it "has never sought to recover directly from Coregis the UM proceeds under the subrogation rights conferred by Miss.Code Ann. § 71-3-71. Instead, MIGA is seeking a credit against future benefits due to the claimant, by virtue of MIGA's statutory rights under Miss.Code Ann. § 83-23-123(1)."
¶ 20. MIGA further cites this Court's recent opinion in Leitch v. Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Ass'n, 2007-CA-01263-COA, 15 So.3d 426 (Miss.Ct.App. Feb. 24, 2009) as support for its position that it is entitled to an offset in the amount of Blakeney's uninsured motorist insurance proceeds. However, we find that our holding in Leitch is distinguishable from the present case. Here, MIGA's obligations to Blakeney arise from a workers' compensation claim, which implicates workers' compensation statutes and other law. In Leitch, however, MIGA's obligation to the claimant arose in the context of automobile liability insurance. Id. at (2). It is the particular nature of workers' compensation insurance that led to the Commission's decision. If MIGA's obligations to Blakeney arose outside the context of a workers' compensation commission, the result in this case would almost certainly be different. Furthermore, we note that the Mississippi Supreme Court has granted William Leitch's request for certiorari. Leitch v. Miss. Ins. Guar. Ass'n, 15 So.3d 426 (Miss.2009). Therefore, we would be reluctant to treat Leitch as settled law carrying authoritative weight.
¶ 21. MIGA also cites and discusses a number of cases from other jurisdictions. We find that these cases are inapplicable, as there is sufficient Mississippi law, which we have already discussed, to support the Commission's decision.
¶ 22. We find that the Commission's decision is also consistent with the principle that workers' compensation statutes should be construed liberally in favor of injured employees.
¶ 23. This contention of error is wholly without merit.
¶ 24. In this issue, MIGA contends that "it is in fact entitled to suspend benefits until the entire face amount of the one hundred thousand dollars in available benefits have accrued. One hundred thousand dollars is the total amount of solvent insurance benefits available to Ms. Blakeney (ten thousand dollars in benefits from the driver's policy, plus ninety thousand dollars in UM benefits)."
¶ 25. This issue is moot, as MIGA is not entitled to a setoff for the uninsured motorist proceeds received by Blakeney. We affirm the Commission's decision that MIGA is entitled to the ten thousand dollars from the Progressive policy, minus the attorney's fees and costs that Blakeney expended in recovering that amount.
¶ 26. In its final issue, MIGA contends that Blakeney is not entitled to reduce MIGA's credit by the costs of collection. MIGA's reasoning for this issue is the same as that discussed in issue one; that is, MIGA argues that the reduction provisions are found only in section 71-3-71 and not in section 83-23-123(1). As we have already stated, MIGA stepped into the shoes of Legion, the insolvent insurer. As such, it is bound by section 71-3-71. Therefore, we find no error with the Commission's decision to reduce the amount of MIGA's setoff by Blakeney's collection expenses.
¶ 27. MIGA also briefly challenges the factual basis for the four thousand dollars
¶ 28. This contention of error is also without merit.
¶ 29.
KING, C.J., LEE AND MYERS, P.JJ., GRIFFIS, BARNES, ISHEE, ROBERTS, CARLTON AND MAXWELL, JJ., CONCUR.