An en banc panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed the order, which denied Claimant’s petition seeking to limit the subrogation interest of Green Acres Contracting Co. (“Employer”) under Section 319 of the Workers’ Compensation Act (“Act”). The issues were “whether Section 319 of the Act violates article I, section 1 and article III, section 18 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.” Claimant did not argue that Section 319 fails to promote a legitimate state interest, nor did he challenge whether Section 319 is reasonably related to accomplishing that state interest. And Claimant did not allege that no circumstances exist under which Section 319 would be valid. Instead, he argued that Section 319 works “too well” in achieving its purpose. The Court concluded that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s holding in Thompson v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (USF&G Company), 781 A.2d 1146 (Pa. 2001) (Thompson II), and the Commonwealth Court’s subsequent decision in Thompson v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (USF&G Company), 801 A.2d 635 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2002) (Thompson III) governed its disposition of this matter. Employer’s right to subrogation under Section 319 is absolute.
