Case Law Summaries

Liu v. Top Glass Contractors Company

• Opinion Date: April 12, 2001
• Real Property Law
• E-Mail

LANDOWNER’S LIABILITY; CONTRACTORS—A landowner has no duty to protect an employee of an independent contractor from the very hazards or dangers emanating from performance of the contracted work unless the owner exercises some degree of involvement in or control over the work.

An employee of a roofing company fell from a ladder while installing an air-conditioning system at a church. After recovering workers’ compensation, he sought to collect from the church. He was unable to establish that the ladder belonged to or was supplied by the church. He was also unable to prove that the church exercised any degree of involvement in or control over the work. The Court denied relief to the injured worker, even though, as a general rule, “a landowner has a nondelegable duty to ensure the safety of the premises upon which work is to be performed.” This is because such a duty does not extend to protecting “an employee of an independent contractor from hazards or dangers emanating from the performance of the contracted work [unless] the owner exercises some degree of involvement in or control over the work.”

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