NICKEMEA WHITFIELD VS. BONANNOREAL ESTATE GROUP, ET AL.
A-2830-09T1
Plaintiff was injured at work and received workers' compensation benefits from her employer. She instituted a third-party negligence action against a number of parties, including the lessee of the premises, a general partnership in which her employer was a partner. The partnership sought summary judgment, arguing that the immunity provided by N.J.S.A. 34:15-8 applied. It contended that because the partnership shared liability for the actions of its agents, i.e., the individual partners, it was entitled to share in the immunities provided to those partners.
We concluded that the partnership was a separate entity, a third-party, under the Worker's Compensation Act. Further, the Revised Uniform Partnership Act reflected an evolution in the legal theory of partnerships, rejecting the common law notion of a partnership being an aggregate of its partners, and adopting the entity theory. Pursuant to the express language of both statutes, and the general policies of the Workers' CompensationAct, the partnership was not entitled to the immunity provided by N.J.S.A. 34:15-8 to its partner, the employer of plaintiff 05-12-11
