California Appellate Tracker

Delgadillo v. Television Center, Inc.

March 4, 2018

A property owner hiring an independent contractor is not liable for injuries the contractor’s worker suffers as a result of the owner’s negligent failure to install safety features required by CalOSH regulations.

SeaBright Ins. Co. v. US Airways, Inc. (2011) 52 Cal.4th 590 nixed plaintiff’s wrongful death claim against defendant for failing to install roof anchors (for use in window washing on defendant’s multi-story building). Under Seabright, a party hiring an independent contractor implicitly delegates to the independent contractor the duty to comply with safety measures needed for its work, including compliance with CalOSH regulations. So the defendant could not be held liable for plaintiff’s injury on a nondelegable duty theory. The plaintiff also could not prevail based on a theory of negligent exercise of retained control. Defendant’s alleged negligence was not affirmative conduct contributing to the injury, but rather only an omission to install adequate roof anchors–and so that conduct was not enough to support the negligent exercise of retained control theory.

California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Three (Edmon, J.); February 2, 2018; 2018 WL 1069715.

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Delgadillo v. Television Center, Inc.

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