Mahlum v. Broeder

1 Citing case

  1. Wight v. Hughes Livestock Company, Inc.

    204 Mont. 98 (Mont. 1983)   Cited 37 times
    In Wight v. Hughes Livestock Co., Inc., 204 Mont. 98, 664 P.2d 303, 312 (1983), the Montana Supreme Court set out the factors as above for determining reasonableness of attorney's fees in a workers' compensation case.

    Betor v. National Biscuit Company (1929), 85 Mont. 481, 280 P. 641; Kerns v. Anaconda Copper Mining Company (1930), 87 Mont. 546, 289 P. 563. It should be beyond cavil therefore that the fundamental basis of worker's compensation laws is to accommodate the public interest in placing economic loss caused by employment accidents not upon the public, but upon the industry in which the accident occurred, Williams v. Industrial Accident Board (1939), 109 Mont. 235, 97 P.2d 1115; and that the principal aim of workers' compensation coverage is to provide social insurance which protects the injured workman against disability from a work-connected injury, again placing the cost of the injury on the industry employing him. Mehlum v. Broeder (1966), 147 Mont. 386, 412 P.2d 572. If therefore, the social purpose of Workers' Compensation Acts is to provide for the injured worker a fund which replaces his lost earnings or his lost earning capacity, the reasonable cost of effectuating such social purpose where litigation is necessary ought also be the burden of the industry.