Cases

Plaintiff injured in workplace accident and received workers' compensation benefits from his employer.  Thereafter, plaintiff brought civil cause of action against owner of leased premises.  The owner of the leased premises filed third party action against employer and the question in this case was whether the exclusive remedy provisions of the workers' compensation statute precluded the third party claim filed by the owner of the premises against the employer.  The original cause of action against the owner of the leased premises was based on the fact that the premises allegedly was negligently maintained and this caused the accident to the injured worker.

Based on the case of Sunspan Engineering and Construction Company v. Spring-Lock Scaffolding Company, 310 So. 2d 4 (Fla. 1975), the exclusive remedy provisions of the workers' compensation law were unconstitutional as applied to barr a third party plaintiff's common law action for indemnification against a negligent employer and accordingly, such third party claim is not barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the workers' compensation statute.  Such right of a third party action against the employer is not restricted by the allegations made by the injured plaintiff/employee namely that the third party was actively negligent.  Though a third party has a right to sue an employer, to state a claim for common law indemnity, a party must allege that he is without fault, that another party is at fault, and that a special relationship between the two parties makes the party seeking indemnification vicariously, constructively, derivatively, or technically liable for the acts or omissions of the other party.  In this case, the third party did not properly plead a claim for common law indemnity because he failed to allege the existence of any special relationship between himself and the employer that would make the third party vicariously, constructively, derivatively or technically liable to the plaintiff/employee because of the employer's neligence or fault.

As a part of the claim for indemnfication, the alleged third party tortfeasor brought cause of action against employer based on a contractual term between the parties that required the employer to name the third party as an additional insured on the employer's general liability policy or its self-insurance policy.  However, since the third party's claim for common law indemnification failed to state a cause of action, the related claim for breach of contract for failure to maintain insurance may not be maintained as a third party claim.