The Aetna Casualty and Surety Company v. L. K. Comstock & Company, Inc., a New York Corporation

We seldom encounter a case which may be resolved on the basis of black letter law. Here we are presented with just such a case. Although state worker’s compensation schemes typically provide that an employer’s liability under the worker’s compensation system is an exclusive liability, “[t]he clearest exception to the exclusive-liability clause is the third party’s right to enforce an express contract in which the employer agrees to indemnify the third party for the very kind of loss that the third party has been made to pay to the employee.” 2A A. Larson, Workmen’s Compensation Law, § 76.42…