Workmen’s Compensation Insurer as Suable Third Party

Until 1960, lawyers appeared to assume that the workmen's compensation insurance carrier partook of the employer's immunity to common law suit by an injured employee. Since then there has been a rapid succession of judicial decisions, some holding the carrier liable as a third party for negligent safety inspections or medical services, some holding the opposite. This article analyzes the state and direction of the law produced by these decisions and related legislative amendments, and proposes a solution.