Boot Manufacturer’s Third-Party Complaint Against Deceased Worker’s Employer Dismissed By Kentucky Court

Following a worker fatality caused by electrical shock at a Kentucky food packing plant, the worker’s estate brought suit against the manufacturer of the “EH” certified boots he was wearing, which allegedly had been warranted to provide protection against inadvertent electrical contact up to 14,000 volts (the worker was exposed to 480 volts at the time of his death).  The estate brought a breach of the aforementioned warranty and a defective design claim against the boot manufacturer.  The boot manufacturer then filed a third-party complaint against the worker’s employer (the owner of the food packing plant) asserting a right of indemnification, contribution, and/or apportionment alleging that the employer caused the worker’s death.

Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky dismissed the third-party complaint against the employer for the failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.  Given that the employer already paid workers’ compensation benefits to the worker’s estate, the Kentucky workers’ compensation regime prevents any additional recovery against the employer, even by other parties.  The exclusiveness of liability language in the pertinent Kentucky law precludes recovery from “anyone otherwise entitled to recover damages from such employer at law or in admiralty on account of such injury or death.”