Is a jury required to award separate verdicts in a motor vehicle accident case?

While failure to require the jury to segregate its awards may be harmless error in some cases, as here, that practice should not be given the imprimatur of this court. The parties are entitled to a finding by the jury of the amount due the employer-insurer, ¹ if for no other reason than to insure the jury's consideration of this item and to give added meaning to the additional award, if any there be, to the injured plaintiff. Labor Code 3856 does not dispense with the requirement of separate verdicts. That section merely directs the trial judge to fix priorities in the awards. (Cf: Eldridge v. Truck Ins. Exchange, 253 Cal.App.2d 365, 61 Cal.Rptr. 347 (1967).) I do not read Labor Code 3856 as adopting a procedure wherein separate verdicts are not required.