Yoder, J., Aplt. v. McCarthy Const.

Summary

The Court reaffirmed that a general contractor may qualify as a statutory employer, and thereby receive workers’ compensation immunity from common-law negligence claims, without having actually paid workers’ compensation benefits. It also reaffirmed that statutory-employer status implicates subject-matter jurisdiction and cannot be waived by failing to plead it timely. The Court nevertheless reversed and vacated the lower courts’ rulings because the Superior Court improperly searched the entire record after the trial court had barred the defense at trial, and remanded for an evidentiary determination of the disputed statutory-employer elements.