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50 Ins. Counsel J. 35 (1983)
The Clash between Strict Products Liability Doctrine and the Workers' Compensation Exclusivity Rule: The Negligent Employer and the Third-Party Manufacturer

handle is hein.journals/defcon50 and id is 37 raw text is: Strict Products Liability Doctrine THE CLASH BETWEEN STRICT PRODUCTS LIABILITY DOCTRINE AND THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION EXCLUSIVITY RULE: THE NEGLIGENT EMPLOYER AND THE THIRD-PARTY MANUFACTURER JAYNE F. LYNCH North Scituate, Rhode Island I. INTRODUCTION: BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Generally when injured on the job, an employee covered by workers' compensation is entitled to collect compensation from his employer's carrier and to sue in tort any third party manufacturer of a defective product which contributed to the cause of injury. The law in most jurisdictions pro- hibits the third-party manufacturer from joining a negligent employer as a party defendant for the purpose of distributing the loss based on comparative fault princi- ples. The negligent employer is deemed im- mune from contribution or indemnity claims regardless of how wrongful its actions may have been. The workers' com- pensation exclusivity rule, which limits an employer's liability to the statutory com- pensation paid to the employee for work- related injuries, operates to protect the negligent employer from the consequences of its wrongdoing to a considerable degree. The employer's immunity in turn operates to saddle the manufacturer with the bur- den to compensate the employee in amounts much greater than the manufacturer would have been required to pay but for the em- ployer-employee relationship and the ex- clusivity rule of workers' compensation. Not only does the third party have no affirmative right to force the employer to pay his equitable portion, but the employer has an affirmative right under subrogation theories to recover from the third party the sums paid as workmen's compensation. Yet to allow the negligent employer to escape economically unscathed is contrary to the principles of equity and justice. The philosophy of workmen's compensation in allocating losses for an employee's injury JAYNF F. LYNCH is associ- ated with the law firm of Goodnow, Arwe, Aver, Prigge and Wrigley in Keene, New Hampshire. She graduated with hon- ors from Brown Univer- sity in Providence, Rhode Island, in June, 1977, and from Boston University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts, in June, 1982. She was admitted to the bar of New Hamp- shire and the Federal Dis- trict Court for New Hampshire, in 1982. Her article won first prize in the 1982 Legal Writing Contest. by insurance as a cost of production within that enterprise is totally defeated by shift- ing such cost entirely to another enterprise. The equitable foundation of compensation law that demands of each party only his fair share of the damages is totally sub- verted. The already slight punitive effect of the compensation award assessed against the employer's insurance fund is nullified in toto. And perhaps most importantly, the deterrent effect that numerous awards might have upon the employer's continua- tion of practices hazardous to his em- ployee's life and limb is destroyed.1 This paper examines the legal relationships between an injured employee, the negli- gent employer, and the strictly liable manu.. facturer of a defective product in a workers' compensation triad case. It reviews statu, tory and case law approaches, critiques com- mentators' suggested alternatives, and sug- 'Michell, Products Liability, Workmen's Compen- sation, and the Industrial Accident, 14 DuQ. L. REV. 349, 367 (1976). Page 35

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