Negligence : Premises Liability – Duty Of Care – Independent Contractor

Listen to this article

(1)Where an employee of a company performing asbestos abatement was impaled on an exposed handrail support while working, the landowner was not liable for his injuries as an invitee pursuant to premises liability because the plaintiff did not show that the landowner owed a duty of care by retaining possession and control of the premises since the undisputed facts showed that the plaintiff was not working at the direction of or under the control of the landowner.

(2)Even though an independent contractor who was injured when he fell on an exposed stairway bracket did not have a premises liability claim against a landowner, the plaintiff could assert a general negligence claim because genuine issues remained as to whether the landowner breached the duty of care by removing the handrail and by providing a defective generator.

(3)Where a landowner argued that negligence and premises liability claims brought by an injured independent contractor were barred by the plaintiff’s receipt of workers’ compensation payments, arguing that its payment of the contract price included workers’ compensation premiums, the challenge failed because workers’ compensation insurance only protects an employer from civil liability in such cases, and the plaintiff was not employed by the landowner.

Judgment is affirmed in part; reversed and remanded in part.

Woodall v. Christian Hospital NE-NW (MLW No. 68245/Case No. ED101777 – 18 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Clayton III, J.) Appealed from circuit court, St. Louis County, Bresnahan, J. (Todd I. Muchnick and Joshua D. Margolis for appellant) (Russell L. Makepeace, Joshua S. Davis and Adam S. Johnson for respondent).

Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)