Theresa Brooke v. Harbor Hotels LLC

**Court Protects Injured Worker's Legal Malpractice Settlement** This case involved a dispute over who could claim money from a legal malpractice settlement. An injured worker had received workers' compensation benefits from North Dakota's Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) after getting hurt on the job. Later, the worker sued their former attorney for legal malpractice and reached a settlement. WSI then tried to claim part of that malpractice settlement money, arguing they had a right to it because they had paid the worker's medical bills and benefits. The court decided in favor of the injured worker. The judges ruled that WSI does not have the legal right to take money from a worker's legal malpractice settlement against their own attorney. The court found that North Dakota law does not give WSI this type of claim over malpractice settlements. **Why this matters for workers:** This ruling protects injured workers who have been harmed by their own lawyers. If you're hurt at work, receive workers' compensation, and later have to sue your attorney for malpractice, the workers' compensation agency cannot take your settlement money. This ensures that workers can hold their lawyers accountable without losing compensation for legal mistakes to their workers' comp insurer.