Could Porter Double Dip Remedies for Hand Caught in Elevator Door?

What Do You Think?

The exclusive remedy rule protects employers who carry workers’ compensation coverage from most personal injury lawsuits. A New York case involving a porter who injured his hand reaching into an elevator track shows that the same rule can protect more than one employer.

The porter worked in a building on Roosevelt Island. He reached down to grab a screw that had fallen into the door track of the service elevator. The elevator closed on his hand, injuring it.

At the time, the porter had worked at the building for ten years. During that period, he was employed by the landlord, Roosevelt Island Corporation. That company had hired Grenadier to manage the building, and the latter was doing so during that same 10-year period. 

The porter’s paychecks were signed by both companies. He obtained workers’ compensation benefits for the injury. Those benefits were paid through coverage maintained by both companies.

After his successful claim, the porter sued Grenadier for negligence. Grenadier argued that the exclusive remedy rule barred the lawsuit because Grenadier was the porter’s “special employer.”

Where a worker has more than one employer, the immunity provided by the exclusive remedy rule extends to all his employers. This includes “special employers.” A special employee is a worker who is transferred for a limited time of whatever duration to the service of another.

Could the porter sue Grenadier for negligence?

A. No. The two companies signed his paychecks and shared workers’ compensation coverage.

B. Yes. Only his immediate employer, Roosevelt, was protected from negligence lawsuits by the exclusive remedy rule.

If you selected A, you agreed with the court in Torres v. Centennial Elevator Industries, No. 160182/2021 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 04/07/26), which ruled that the injury was not compensable.

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The court pointed out that the porter’s paychecks came from both companies. Both their names appeared on the checks. That was enough to indicate that he was Grenadier’s special employee. Further, this was not a case of a recent hire who may have made a mistake, since, in his estimate, the porter had worked for Grenadier for about ten years.

“Plaintiff's opposition did not adequately explain how he could seek Workers' Compensation benefits and also sue an entity which he believed was his employer for nearly a decade,” the court said. 

Finally, there was no indication that Roosevelt ever took steps to distinguish itself from Grenadier.

Because the porter was Grenadier’s special employee at the time of the accident, his negligence lawsuit was barred by the exclusive remedy rule.

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