Defendants negligently failed to prevent access by people seeking to harm workers, foreman alleges
Unknown assailants attacked and seriously injured a foreman working at a construction site.
In the case of Degala v. John Stewart Company et al., the foreman asked for damages based on negligence and premises liability.
John Stewart Company (JSC) signed a contract hiring Cahill Contractors, Inc. as general contractor for a construction project at the Hunters Point East-West housing complex in San Francisco. Cahill hired Janus Corporation as subcontractor to perform demolition work. The foreman was an employee of Janus.
The foreman sued JSC and Cahill. He alleged that the defendants negligently managed the operation of the construction site by failing to monitor access to the site and by failing to prevent access by people seeking to harm workers.
In his premises liability claim, the foreman alleged that the defendants removed security guards from the site, allowed unfettered access, and thus breached their duties to control and to maintain the site in a reasonably safe condition and to exercise reasonable care in performing their voluntary undertakings to provide security.
The defendants filed summary judgment motions arguing that the Privette doctrine barred the foreman’s claims. Under the Privette doctrine, the hirer of an independent contractor was generally not liable for on-the-job injuries of the contractor’s employees.
The trial court granted summary judgment in the...
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