High Court Declares 3rd-Party Liability Waivers Unenforceable

With this week’s New Jersey Supreme Court decision in Vitale v. Schering-Plough Corp., the Garden State has become the first jurisdiction to rule that workers cannot sign away their right to sue clients of their employer over a work injury. So far, only five jurisdictions — New Jersey, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. — have considered the legality of third-party liability waivers in their courts. All but New Jersey have ruled that the waivers are enforceable. Workers’ compensation attorneys on both sides of the aisle cheered the de...