At any time after the amount of any award or commutation is finally determined, a sum equal to the present value of all future installments of the compensation, calculated on a five percent basis, where death or the nature of the injury renders the amount of future payments certain, may be paid by the employer to any bank, mutual savings bank, savings association, or trust company in this state approved and designated by the commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry, compensation judge, or Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals in cases upon appeal. Such sum, together with all interest thereon, shall be held in trust for the employee or for the dependents of the employee, who shall have no further recourse against the employer. The employer's payment of this sum evidenced by a receipt of the trustee filed with the commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry, operates as a satisfaction of the compensation liability as to the employer. The trustee shall make payments from the fund in the same amounts and at the same time as are required of the employer until the fund and interest is exhausted, except when otherwise ordered by the commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry. In the appointment of trustee the preference shall be given to the choice of the injured employee or the choice of the dependents of the deceased employee.
History:1953 c 755 s 20; 1971 c 422 s 3; 1973 c 388 s 47; 1975 c 271 s 6; 1975 c 359 s 23; 1976 c 134 s 78; 1995 c 202 art 1 s 25