Does a plaintiff have a right to sue an employer in tort against a third party contractor?

The latter position rests on consideration of the general effect on liability of workmen's compensation laws, which abrogate the common law right to sue an employer in tort in return for a certain but relatively smaller payment to the injured employee. To the extent that workmen's compensation laws represent a preferred scheme for redress of occupational injuries, it does appear anomalous and fortuitous for an employee to be in a better position through a revived, as it were, claim against a third party owner than he would be in had his injury occurred in the scope of employment by the owner directly. Stated another way, it is argued that an owner should not incur greater exposure by hiring a qualified independent contractor than he would have by using his own employees, who would be limited to a compensation remedy. See Bramer v. United States, 595 F.2d 1141, 1146 n.10 (9th Cir. 1979). ⁷