{"id":899201,"date":"2021-10-05T15:31:59","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T21:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=899201"},"modified":"2021-10-05T15:32:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T21:32:02","slug":"privette-doctrine-workplace-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/privette-doctrine-workplace-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Under Privette Doctrine, A Landowner Delegates All Responsibility For Workplace Safety to its Independent Contractor, and therefore Owes No Duty to Remedy or Adopt Measures to Protect Against Known Hazards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Krsto Mijanovic, Jeffrey C. Schmid and John M. Wilkerson | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hbblaw.com\/under-privette-doctrine-a-landowner-delegates-all-responsibility-for-workplace-safety-to-its-independent-contractor-and-therefore-owes-no-duty-to-remedy-or-adopt-measures-to-protect-against-known-ha\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Haight Brown &amp; Bonesteel<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\u00a0<em>Gonzalez v. Mathis<\/em>\u00a0(2021 WL 3671594) (\u201c<em>Gonzalez<\/em>\u201d), the Supreme Court of California held that a landowner generally owes no duty to an independent contractor or its workers to remedy or adopt other measures to protect them against known hazards on the premises. The Court applied the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-injuries-privette-doctrine-electrifying-perhaps-not-particularly-shocking-story\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Privette<\/em>\u00a0doctrine<\/a> which establishes a presumption that a landowner generally delegates all responsibility for workplace safety to its independent contractor. (See generally\u00a0<em>Privette v. Superior Court<\/em>\u00a0(1993) 5 Cal.4th 689;\u00a0<em>SeaBright Ins. Co. v. US Airways, Inc.<\/em>\u00a0(2011) 52 Cal.4th 590.)\u00a0As such, the independent contractor is responsible for ensuring that the work can be performed safely despite a known hazard on the worksite, even where the contractor and its workers are unable to take any reasonable safety precautions to avoid or protect themselves from the known hazard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Gonzalez<\/em>, the landowner, Mathis, had hired an independent contractor, Gonzalez, to clean a skylight on his roof.&nbsp;To access the skylight, Gonzalez needed to utilize a narrow path between the edge of the roof and a parapet wall. While walking along this path, Gonzalez slipped and fell to the ground, sustaining serious injuries. Gonzalez alleged this accident was caused by several dangerous conditions on the roof, including a slippery surface, a lack of tie-off points to attach a safety harness, and a lack of a guardrail. Gonzalez was aware of all of these hazards prior to the accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trial court granted Mathis\u2019 motion for summary, finding that Mathis owed no duty to Gonzalez pursuant to the&nbsp;<em>Privette<\/em>&nbsp;doctrine. The Court of Appeal reversed, holding that a landowner may be liable to an independent contractor or its workers for injuries resulting from known hazards when the landowner exposes them to a known hazard that cannot be remedied through reasonable safety precautions. The Court of Appeal additionally held that summary judgment was improper because there were disputed issues of material fact as to whether Gonzalez could have taken such precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The California Supreme Court reversed and upheld the trial court\u2019s ruling, declining to create a new exception to the&nbsp;<em>Privette<\/em>&nbsp;doctrine in this situation. The Court\u2019s holding is grounded in&nbsp;<em>Privette\u2019s<\/em>&nbsp;strong presumption in favor of delegation.&nbsp;Because the hirer presumptively delegates to the independent contractor the authority to determine the manner in which the work is to be performed, the contractor also assumes the responsibility to ensure that the worksite is safe, and the work is performed safely. The Court\u2019s holding is also consistent with the rationale behind&nbsp;<em>Privette<\/em>&nbsp;and its progeny, as independent contractors can typically factor the cost of added safety precautions or any increased safety risks into the contract price, and can purchase workers\u2019 compensation to cover any injuries sustained while on the job. Notably, the Court\u2019s analysis does not change even though Gonzalez did not have workers\u2019 compensation coverage. The holding in&nbsp;<em>Gonzalez<\/em>&nbsp;also avoids the unfair \u201ctort damages windfall\u201d that would result from allowing independent contractors and their workers to obtain tort damages from the landowner while the landowner\u2019s own employees are limited to workers\u2019 compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court emphasized that its holding does not apply to unknown and undiscoverable hazards; it is limited to hazards on the premises of which the independent contractor is aware or should reasonably detect.&nbsp;<em>Gonzalez<\/em>&nbsp;also does not address the situation in which a hazard is not located on or near the worksite or is unconnected to the independent contractor\u2019s work on the premises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Gonzalez<\/em>&nbsp;is helpful because it clarifies that landowners do not have a responsibility to affirmatively assess workplace safety to determine whether their independent contractor is able to adopt reasonable safety precautions to protect against known hazards.&nbsp;Landowners are permitted to rely on the expertise of their independent contractors, as they are in a better position to determine whether they can protect themselves and their workers against a known hazard on the worksite and whether their work can be performed safely despite the hazard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This document is intended to provide you with information about general liability law related developments. The contents of this document are not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have questions about the contents of this alert, please contact the authors. This communication may be considered advertising in some jurisdictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Krsto Mijanovic, Jeffrey C. Schmid and John M. Wilkerson | Haight Brown &amp; Bonesteel In\u00a0Gonzalez v. Mathis\u00a0(2021 WL 3671594) (\u201cGonzalez\u201d), the Supreme Court of California held that a landowner generally owes no duty to an independent contractor or its workers to remedy or adopt other measures to protect them against known hazards on the premises.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/privette-doctrine-workplace-safety\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Under Privette Doctrine, A Landowner Delegates All Responsibility For Workplace Safety to its Independent Contractor, and therefore Owes No Duty to Remedy or Adopt Measures to Protect Against Known Hazards<\/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":[8782],"tags":[9895,410,9884,11230],"class_list":["post-899201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-injury","tag-advise-consult","tag-independent-contractor","tag-privette-doctrine","tag-workplace-safety","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Under Privette Doctrine, A Landowner Delegates All Responsibility For Workplace Safety to its Independent Contractor, and therefore Owes No Duty to Remedy or Adopt Measures to Protect Against Known Hazards - Advise &amp; 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