To protect your right to recover workers' compensation payments from a negligent third party you should file:

• A. A complaint in intervention
• B. A complaint for damages
• C. A subrogation petition
• D. A petition for third-party recovery

Answer: (A)

Subrogation rights drive the correct approach. When a self‑insured employer or workers’ compensation carrier pays benefits to an injured worker, it gains the right to be repaid by the person who caused the injury. To protect that right in the worker’s lawsuit against the negligent third party, the subrogee (the employer or insurer) files a complaint in intervention in the ongoing third-party action. This lets the subrogee participate as a party and pursue reimbursement for benefits paid (and related costs) from the third party’s damages, rather than starting a separate case.

Filing a complaint for damages would be the worker’s own action for injuries, not a vehicle to recover paid workers’ comp benefits. A subrogation petition or a petition for third-party recovery aren’t the standard pleadings used in this scenario. The intervention mechanism is the proper way to protect and recover the employer’s or insurer’s subrogation rights within the third-party case.