# Heckendorn v. Consolidated Rail Corp.

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · September 15, 1983 · 502 Pa. 101

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9643706

## Case

- **Full name:** Fred M. HECKENDORN and Mary Anne Heckendorn, Plaintiffs, v. CONSOLIDATED RAIL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant, v. EVANS PRODUCTS COMPANY, Additional Defendant, and the Carnation Company, Additional Defendant-Appellee
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** September 15, 1983
- **Citations:** 502 Pa. 101; 465 A.2d 609; 1983 Pa. LEXIS 668
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Larsen
- **Judges:** Roberts, Nix, Larsen, Flaherty, McDermott
- **Cited by:** 66 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9643706

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that by virtue of the exclusivity provision of section 303(a) of the Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Act, an émployer may not even be joined as an additional defendant by a third-party tortfeasor where the injury or death is job related
- holding that the Pennsylvania Legislature did not contemplate an apportionment of liability between one or more third party tortfeasors against whom recovery may be had and a plaintiff's employer against whom there can be no recovery
- holding that there is no role for the employer in an action by an employee against a third party, making workers’ compensation policies all but irrelevant
- holding section 303 precludes joinder of employer as additional defendant for purposes of apportioning fault

## Opinion text

LARSEN, Justice,
concurring.
I join with the majority except to point out thaL subrogation rights are always subject to equitable principles. See Bigley v. Unity Auto Parts, Inc., 496 Pa. 262, 274 , 436 A.2d 1172, 1178 (1981); Dale Manufacturing Co. v. Bressi, 491 Pa. 493, 496 , 421 A.2d 653, 654 (1980). Thus, the employer’s right to subrogation is not automatic and some judicial proceeding must be had in order for the employer’s lack or degree of fault to be established. See Tsarnas v. Jones & *110 Laughlin Steel Corporation, 488 Pa. 513 , 412 A.2d 1094 (1980) (Larsen, J., concurring).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9643706. Public record. Not legal advice.