Durand
Durand v. United States Department of Labor
Opinion
Opinion
Burns, J.
The Federal Employee Compensation Act, or FECA, provides disability benefits to federal employees who are injured on the job. But there’s a catch. If a third party is responsible for the employee’s injury, the Secretary of Labor can require the employee to bring a civil action against that third party. And if the employee obtains a judgment, he must refund to the United States any FECA benefits he received. The question in this appeal is whether the employee can deduct his litigation costs from that refund. We hold he cannot and affirm the district court’s judgment.
I. Factual and Legal Background
Steve Durand was working for the Federal Aviation Administration when he was injured in a helicopter crash. He filed a FECA claim with the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs and received benefits totaling $409,838.11.
The Secretary of Labor can require a FECA beneficiary whose injury was “caused under circumstances creating a legal liability on a person other than the United States to pay damages” to do one of the following:
5 U.S.C. § 8131 (a). Here, the Secretary chose the second option. Durand then filed a civil action against the helicopter…