Worker Can't Intervene in Employer's 3rd-Party Tortfeasor Suit

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that an injured worker could not intervene in a lawsuit her employer had filed against the third party allegedly responsible for her compensable injuries, since she had already failed to recover damages from the same defendant. In finding that the doctrine of res judicata barred Teresa Mroczko’s intervention in her employer’s third-party lawsuit, the court avoided the question of whether a worker has a right to intervene in an employer-initiated personal injury suit to advance the claims she could have made. Mroczko had worked for A&am...