## Facts

- Mark A. Kotecki, an employee of Carus Chemical Company, was injured at work when his hand was caught in the motor of an industrial agitator.
- The agitator had been designed, constructed, and installed on Carus’s premises by Cyclops Welding Corporation.
- Kotecki sued Cyclops, alleging negligent design/installation for lack of adequate guarding of the motor and drive system.
- Cyclops filed a third-party contribution claim against Carus under the Illinois Joint Tortfeasor Contribution Act, seeking contribution proportionate to Carus’s fault if Cyclops were held liable.
- Carus moved to strike Cyclops’s damages demand, arguing that any contribution exposure could not exceed Carus’s statutory liability to Kotecki under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.
- The trial court denied the motion and certified the legal question for interlocutory review; the Illinois Supreme Court granted review to resolve the certified issue.

## Issues

1. Whether an employer brought in as a third-party defendant for contribution may be required to pay contribution exceeding its statutory workers’ compensation liability for the employee’s injury.

## Decision

- The Illinois Supreme Court held that an employer may be subject to a contribution claim, but the employer’s contribution liability is limited to the amount of its workers’ compensation liability to the employee.
- The court reasoned that the Contribution Act must be read consistently with the Workers’ Compensation Act’s exclusivity scheme and that allowing uncapped contribution would effectively reintroduce employer tort exposure beyond the statutory benefit schedule.
- The matter was returned for further proceedings consistent with the limitation on the employer’s contribution exposure.

## Legal Principles

- A third party sued in tort by an injured employee may seek contribution from the employer, even though the employee’s direct tort claim against the employer is barred by the Workers’ Compensation Act.
- The employer’s contribution exposure is capped at the amount of the employer’s workers’ compensation obligation for the same injury.
- The cap reconciles proportionate-fault contribution with workers’ compensation exclusivity by preventing indirect expansion of employer liability beyond the statutory workers’ compensation scheme.

## Conclusion

The court permitted contribution claims against employers but limited the employer’s contribution liability to its workers’ compensation obligation, preserving the workers’ compensation exclusivity bargain while allowing partial allocation of fault to the employer.


Kotecki v. Cyclops Welding Corp., 585 N.E.2d 1023 (Ill. 1991)