New York: “Grave Injury” Defense in § 11 is Unavailable for Uninsured Employer

In New York, where an injured employee seeks to recover from a third party for that party’s alleged negligence in causing the employee’s injuries, the third party may not seek indemnification and/or contribution from the employer, on the basis of the employer’s own alleged negligence unless the employee suffered “grave injury,” as defined by N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 11. That immunity is not, however, available to an employer who failed to secure workers’ compensation coverage for its employees, held a state appellate court. Where, as here, the employee’s injuries occurred during a lapse of coverage, the employer was subject to the third-party claim filed by the defendant who had been sued by the employee.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Naula v. Utokilen, LLC, 2020 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1356 (2d Dept., Feb. 26, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 121.03.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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