Who is liable when a contractor causes an accident on your property?
When contractors are working on a property, typically property owners are mostly focused on making sure the work gets done exactly how they want it. However, occasionally something can happen that is far worse than the contractor using the wrong materials or padding their bill a bit: a contractor or subcontractor may actually cause an accident on the property.
When this happens, many questions arise about who is liable and who must pay for the injured victim’s compensation. As one recent ruling from the California Superior Court shows, it all hinges on whether or not the contractor who caused the accident was licensed.
Whoever Hires an Unlicensed Contractor Is Liable for Their Actions
The case recently heard by the Fourth Appellate District involved injuries suffered on a residential construction site due to collapsing scaffolding.
The defendant in the case, Ray Vasilas, was the primary contractor on the job. He hired one contractor (Gomez) to repair stucco and another contractor (Randall Blackwell) to work on the gutters. After Gomez erected some scaffolding for the stucco work, Blackwell leaned his ladder against the scaffolding and climbed up to the roof to do his work. The scaffolding collapsed and Blackwell fell and suffered serious injury.
Blackwell filed a personal injury lawsuit against both Gomez and Vasilas alleging negligence. Gomez did not participate in the lawsuit, but Vasilas responded with a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that he was not responsible for the conduct of an independent contractor such as Gomez.
The trial court agreed and granted the motion. However, upon appeal the court investigated the matter more carefully and determined that Vasilas was liable because he had not proven that Gomez was an independent contractor rather than an employee.
The court pointed to past case law and wording in the California Labor Code that, in the court’s words, “absolutely denies independent contractor status to a person required to have [a contactor’s] license who is not licensed.” Because Gomez was not licensed, he could not be an independent contractor but instead was Vasilas’ employee, making Vasilas liable for his actions.
Do You Need Help with a Premises Liability Case?
Contractors have the potential to make a wide variety of errors that can result in injury. Anything from laying uneven flooring that presents a trip hazard to making wiring errors that result in electrocution injuries could possibly raise a question of liability. Get expert advice about any kind of premises accident case by contacting The Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas at 909-982-0707 and requesting a free initial consultation.
