{"id":892013,"date":"2017-04-26T11:53:53","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T17:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=892013"},"modified":"2017-04-26T11:53:53","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T17:53:53","slug":"missouri-court-appeals-upholds-acceptance-doctrine-absolve-general-contractor-premises-liability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/missouri-court-appeals-upholds-acceptance-doctrine-absolve-general-contractor-premises-liability\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Court of Appeals Upholds Acceptance Doctrine to Absolve General Contractor of Premises Liability"},"content":{"rendered":"

John A. Watt | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC<\/a> | April 21, 2017<\/p>\n

In the case of Wilson v. Dura-Seal and Stripe<\/i>, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District held that the \u201cacceptance doctrine\u201d is still valid law in Missouri, and bars liability against a construction contractor for the injury of a third party after the owner of the premises has accepted the work. Citing prior case law, the Court explained the law as follows: \u201cAfter an owner accepts a structure, the general rule is that a general contractor is not liable to persons with whom he did not contract….In the absence of formal acceptance, constructive or practical acceptance will suffice….Acceptance of the work is attended by the presumption of the owner \u2026 made a reasonably careful inspection of the work, knows of its defects, and so accepts the defects and the negligence that caused them as his own.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Wilson<\/i>, plaintiff brought suit against general contractor Dura-Seal for injuries she sustained when she tripped and fell in the gutter area of new asphalt, which had been applied by Dura-Seal at a public school. Wilson claimed that she fell as a result of the height differential between the gutter area and the new asphalt installed by Dura-Seal. Wilson filed a premises liability claim against the owner of the premises who then in turn added Dura-Seal as a third party defendant. Dura-Seal moved for summary judgment, stating that the owner had accepted their work and therefore bore the premises liability due to the acceptance doctrine. The plaintiff argued that there was no evidence that the owner had accepted the work.<\/p>\n

It was undisputed that Dura-Seal had not performed any work on the drive lane for at least two months before the plaintiff\u2019s injury and that the owner had paid Dura-Seal for all of the work. It was undisputed that the owner also had exclusive possession and use of the premises rather than the contractor. The Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment and found that the undisputed facts showed that Dura-Seal was neither in control of the premises, nor had the right to control the premises at the time of the plaintiff\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeals also analyzed the \u201cimminently dangerous\u201d exception to the acceptance doctrine. This exception operates to impose liability on a contractor, even after the owner has accepted the contractor\u2019s work, under the following conditions: \u201cWhere the structure was so defectively constructed as to be essentially and imminently dangerous to the safety of others; the defects are so hidden and concealed that a reasonable and careful inspection would not have disclosed them, and these things are known to the defendants but not to those who accepted them.\u201d Here, the undisputed facts showed that the drive lane and the gutter area where Dura-Seal worked were in plain view and therefore was easily discoverable by the owner. The Court thus declined to apply the exception, and ruled in Dura-Seal\u2019s favor, holding that plaintiff had accepted the work when it was completed and payment in full was made.<\/p>\n

Missouri construction contractors and their counsel should be well aware of the dimensions of the acceptance doctrine, and the \u201cimminently dangerous\u201d exception, when defending cases of this type.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John A. Watt | Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC | April 21, 2017 In the case of Wilson v. Dura-Seal and Stripe, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District held that the \u201cacceptance doctrine\u201d is still valid law in Missouri, and bars liability against a construction contractor for the injury of a… Continue reading Missouri Court of Appeals Upholds Acceptance Doctrine to Absolve General Contractor of Premises Liability<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,164,8782],"tags":[10005,9895,361,9873],"class_list":["post-892013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","category-construction-dispute","category-personal-injury","tag-acceptance-doctrine","tag-advise-consult","tag-personal-injury","tag-trip-and-fall-hazards","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMissouri Court of Appeals Upholds Acceptance Doctrine to Absolve General Contractor of Premises Liability - 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