Kinsman v. Unocal Asbestos case: Discussion on the Privette and Ray v. Silverado Cases

Read the discussion in the Kinsman v. Unocal asbestos case, where the Privette and Ray v. Silverado cases are discussed.

Using the framework of delegation, we can understand other cases in which the hirer’s liability or potential liability has been found. In Ray v. Silverado Constructors (2002) 98 Cal.App.4th 1120, the employee of a subcontractor was killed when he was struck by a heavy wooden deck blown by a strong wind from a bridge he was helping to construct.

He was hit while attempting to secure other construction materials that also had been blown from the bridge, after having stopped his truck so as to block traffic from traveling into the hazardous area.

His estate sued the general contractor on a negligent retention of control theory. The trial court granted summary judgment for the general contractor, but the Court of Appeal reversed. It reasoned that a highway contractor has a duty to exercise due care to protect the traveling public, and that duty may have included the responsibility to close the road to prevent motorists from being harmed by the wayward construction materials.

The court concluded there was a triable issue as to whether the general contractor retained the sole authority to close the road, and whether its failure to do so therefore constituted negligence that led directly to the employee’s injury.

In other words, the general contractor may have been liable because its delegation of workplace safety to the subcontractor, the plaintiff’s employer, was limited and did not authorize the subcontractor to undertake the one safety measure that might have saved the plaintiff’s life.

Courtesy of http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S118561.PDF

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