Draper v. Aceto

In Draper v. Aceto (2001) 26 Cal.4th 1086, because the employee and the employer accepted a settlement of the third party action for an amount that was less than the employer had paid out in workers' compensation benefits, there was no monetary recovery by the employee. Accordingly, the court concluded the settlement did not "benefit" the employee and no fees were awarded to her attorney out of the settlement fund.