The Supreme Court of North Carolina has determined that an insurer that paid death benefits on behalf of an employer to the family of a South Carolina-based driver who was killed in a car accident in his home state can't recover the proceeds from a wrongful death lawsuit, because South Carolina prohibits such a recovery. The case is Walker v. K&W Cafeterias, No. 99PA19, 2020 N.C. Lexis 692 (Aug. 14, 2020).

In May 2012, Robert Lee Walker was killed in a work-related accident, while working for K&W Cafeterias. Walker lived in South Carolina and the company he worked for, K&W Cafeterias, was based in North Carolina. After his death, his widow filed a workers' compensation claim with the North Carolina Industrial Commission for medical expenses and death benefits. She was awarded $333,763.

In 2014 the widow filed a new, separate, civil action for wrongful death in South Carolina. The suit sought damages from the driver of the vehicle at-fault in the accident that resulted in Walker's death. In 2016, she was awarded $962,500 in a settlement, which the workers' compensation insurer attempted to access as a part of a lien.