In Ferguson v. Green Is. Contr. Corp. (36 N.Y.2d 742, 743 [1975]), the Court of Appeals held that an employer has no right to recover damages when one of its employees is injured as a consequence of the negligence of a third party. In Ferguson an employer sought to recover damages it had allegedly sustained as a result of the disabling personal injuries suffered by a difficult-to-replace employee in an airplane crash (id.). The employer alleged that the injuries suffered by its employee were caused by the defendant airplane owner/operator's negligent operation of the private aircraft in which the employee was flying (id.).