Hunt Construction Group, Inc. v. Garrett

964 N.E.2d 222, 2012 WL 966049, 2012 Ind. LEXIS 48
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 22, 2012
Docket49S02-1106-CT-365
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 964 N.E.2d 222 (Hunt Construction Group, Inc. v. Garrett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunt Construction Group, Inc. v. Garrett, 964 N.E.2d 222, 2012 WL 966049, 2012 Ind. LEXIS 48 (Ind. 2012).

Opinions

SULLIVAN, Justice.

An employee of a concrete subcontractor was injured in a workplace accident during the construction of Lucas Oil Stadium. She seeks to recover damages for negligence from the project’s construction manager by whom she was not employed but whom she contends had a legal duty of care for jobsite-employee safety. Because we find that the construction manager did not have, either by the terms of its contracts or by its actions, such a legal duty, we hold that the construction manager may not be held liable to the worker for negligence.

Background

In the process of removing forming material from concrete, one of Shannon Garrett’s coworkers dropped a piece of wood. That piece of wood struck Garrett and injured her head and left hand. At the time she was injured, both Garrett and her coworker were employees of Baker Con[224]*224crete Construction, Inc., which had entered into a contract with the Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority (“Stadium Authority”) to perform concrete work on Lucas Oil Stadium.

The defendant, Hunt Construction Group, Inc.,1 had entered into a contract with the Stadium Authority to act as the construction manager for the building of Lucas Oil Stadium.2 Hunt had no contractual relationship with Baker Concrete or any other contractors.

An employee’s rights and remedies against his or her employer on account of jobsite injuries are governed by the Indiana’s Worker’s Compensation Act. But that Act does not restrict an injured employee from pursuing a claim against any “other person than the employer.” Ind. Code § 22-3-2-13 (2007). Provided with this right in addition to her entitlement to worker’s compensation benefits, Garrett sued Hunt for negligence. She then filed a motion for partial summary judgment, requesting a determination that Hunt was “vicariously liable” for the actions of Baker Concrete. Hunt opposed Garrett’s request and filed its own motion for summary judgment, seeking judgment in its favor on grounds that it could not be liable to Garrett for negligence because it did not owe Garrett a duty of work place safety under any recognized theory of law.

After a hearing, the trial court ruled in Garrett’s favor that Hunt could be held vicariously liable for the actions of Baker Concrete and denied Hunt’s request for judgment in its favor. The trial court then certified its rulings for interlocutory appeal. The Court of Appeals accepted the appeal. It unanimously held that Hunt was not vicariously liable to Garrett for any negligence of Baker Concrete because Hunt and Baker Concrete did not have the requisite relationship. Hunt Constr. Grp., Inc. v. Garrett, 938 N.E.2d 794, 799 (Ind.Ct.App.2010), reh’g denied. But it was divided on whether Hunt owed a duty to Garrett such that Hunt may be liable to her for negligence. A majority of the panel held that Hunt owed her a duty through its contracts, id. at 804, while Judge Friedlander concluded that Hunt did not, id. at 805-06 (Friedlander, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

Hunt sought, and we granted, transfer, Hunt Constr. Grp. v. Garrett, 950 N.E.2d 1212 (Ind.2011) (table). However, we summarily affirm the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals reversing the trial court’s judgment on the issue of vicarious liability.3 Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A)(2).

Discussion

I

A brief overview of the construction industry as it relates to this case is a helpful starting point. “Construction management” has grown in recent decades as an alternative to the conventional approach to large construction projects. See Contractor’s and Construction Manager’s Rights [225]*225and Duties, 2-5B Construction L. Online (MB) P 5B.03 ¶¶ [l][a]-[d] (2011). A conventional construction project typically features owners, architects, engineers, general contractors, and subcontractors with discrete project responsibilities, none of which consist of overall management of the construction project as a primary activity. Id. ¶¶ [l][a]-[b]. In contrast, construction management separates and consolidates the management function in one entity called the construction manager. Id. ¶ Elite]. Construction management offers certain advantages over the conventional approach — sophisticated cost estimating capabilities, practical analysis of design alternatives, and shortened development processes. Id. ¶ [l][d]. It also has its disadvantages — higher fees, coordination problems, and a lack of single-point responsibility for both the construction process and the construction product. Id. A construction manager undertakes a variety of responsibilities as specified in a written contract between the construction manager and the project owner. Id. ¶ [3]. And some of these responsibilities often relate to jobsite safety. Id. ¶ [3][f].

As in the case before us today, when the employee of a contractor or subcontractor is injured in a workplace accident on a jobsite where a construction manager arrangement is in place, the employee sometimes seeks to recover from the construction manager. The first reported case in Indiana of this nature was decided by the Court of Appeals almost three decades ago. Plan-Tec, Inc. v. Wiggins, 443 N.E.2d 1212 (Ind.Ct.App.1983). Plan-Tec has proved to provide a durable template for resolving the issues in cases like this and we will use it for that purpose here.

In Plan-Tec, Plan-Tec, Inc., signed a contract with North Clark Community Hospital to provide construction management services for a hospital construction project. Id. at 1216. After construction began, the construction manager also assumed additional responsibility for changing expansion joints on the exterior skin of the building in order to suit the architect’s modifications.4 Id. A journeyman carpenter employed by one of a number of subcontractors on the expansion joint work was injured in a jobsite accident when the scaffold on which he was working collapsed. Id. at 1216-17. The plaintiff-carpenter sued the defendant-construction manager; a jury verdict was returned in the plaintiff-carpenter’s favor. Id. at 1217. On appeal, the defendant-construction manager argued that it owed no legal duty to the project contractors’ and subcontractors’ employees for their safety and, as such, the jury verdict was contrary to law. Id.

Plan-Tec held that a construction manager owes a legal “duty of care” — a necessary element to recover for negligence5— for jobsite employee safety in two circumstances: (1) when such a duty is imposed upon the construction manager by a contract to which it is a party, id. at 1218; or (2) when the construction manager “assumes such a duty, either gratuitously or voluntarily,” id. at 1219 (citations omitted).

The Court of Appeals first analyzed the contract at issue in the case. It found that there were no provisions in the contract pursuant to which the construction manag[226]*226er “contractually accepted the duty to maintain safety on the project.” Id.

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Hunt Construction Group, Inc. v. Garrett
964 N.E.2d 222 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
964 N.E.2d 222, 2012 WL 966049, 2012 Ind. LEXIS 48, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunt-construction-group-inc-v-garrett-ind-2012.