Joyce v. Mastri

861 N.E.2d 1102, 308 Ill. Dec. 537, 371 Ill. App. 3d 64
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided January 11, 2007·No. 1-06-0086·Published·Cited by 42 cases

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE QUINN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Timothy Joyce, an employee of an independent contractor, suffered injuries when he fell off a ladder at a construction site. Plaintiff filed a complaint at law with two counts against defendant Madison Services, Inc. (Madison Services), the general contractor of the site, alleging common-law negligence. Plaintiff appeals from orders of the circuit court granting summary judgment in defendant’s favor. 1 Plaintiff contends that defendant had a duty to prevent his injuries in light of its contract with plaintiffs employer, its retention of control over certain aspects of the construction site, its contract with the federal government and nondelegable duty to comply with applicable safety regulations, and as the possessor of the land where his injury occurred. For the following reasons, we affirm.

I. Background

Plaintiffs injuries occurred on April 16, 2001, at a construction site at the United States Army Reserve Base in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Madison Services acted as the general contractor at the construction project to demolish and install air handling systems. Madison Services hired plaintiffs employer, Elk Grove Mechanical, Inc. (EGM), to perform certain demolition and construction work at the site. EGM contracted to work on demolishing air handling units and their appurtenances in mechanical rooms 110 and 115 at the site.

Pursuant to section 8.1 of the contract between Madison Services and EGM, EGM was required to execute the work contracted for and provide “all labor, materials, equipment, services and other items required to complete such portion of the Work.” Section 3.2.2 of the contract provided that Madison Services “shall not give instructions or orders directly to employees or workmen of [EGM], except to persons designated as authorized representatives of [EGM].” Under section 2.1, Madison Services and EGM agreed to be “mutually bound by the terms of [the] Agreement and, to the extent that provisions of the Prime Contract apply to the Work of the Subcontractor, the Contractor apply to the Work of the Subcontractor all obligations and responsibilities that the Owner, under the Prime Contractor assumes toward the Owner and the Architect.” Also, under section 4.3.1, EGM agreed that it “shall take reasonable safety precautions with respect to performance of this Subcontract, shall comply with safety measures, initiated by [Madison Services] and with applicable laws, ordinances, rules, regulations and orders of public authorities for the requirements of the Prime Contract [between Madison Services and the United States Government], [EGM] shall report within three days an injury to an employee or agent of [EGM] which occurred at the site.”

Additionally, section 4.4.1 of the contract provided that “[EGM] shall keep the premises and surrounding area free from accumulation of waste materials or rubbish caused by operations performed under this Subcontract. [EGM] shall not be held responsible for unclean conditions caused by other contractors and subcontractors.” Section 4.6.1 provided:

“To the fullest extent permitted by law, [EGM] shall indemnify and hold harmless the Owner, Contractor, Architect, Architect’s consultants, and agents and employees of any of them from and against claims, damages, losses and expenses, including but not limited to attorney’s fees, arising out of or under this Subcontract, provided that such claim, damage, loss or expense is attributable to bodily injury, sickness, disease or death, or to injury to or destruction of tangible property (other than the Work itself) including loss of use resulting therefrom, but only to the extent caused in whole or in part by negligent acts or omissions of [EGM], [EGM’s] Sub-subcontractor, anyone directly or indirectly employed by them or anyone for whose acts they may be liable, regardless whether or not such claim, damage, loss or expense is caused in part by a party indemnified hereunder.”

Plaintiff testified at his deposition that on April 16, 2001, he arrived at the work site on the Army Reserve Base at approximately 8 a.m. Plaintiff testified that after first arriving at the work site, he set up extension cords to plug in saws and swept the larger mechanical room. At approximately 9:20 a.m., plaintiff testified that he began setting up in the smaller mechanical room, where he was injured. Plaintiff testified that his employer, EGM, was contracted to tear out several 15-ton air handlers at the time. Plaintiff was attempting to remove ductwork at the time of his fall. ■

Plaintiff testified that in order to set up for the removal of duct-work, he used a ladder that was brought to the work site by defendant Jay Mastri, from Jay’s HVAC. Plaintiff testified that he set up the ladder near the west wall of the mechanical room and extended it to approximately 15 feet. Plaintiff testified that the feet of the ladder were four feet from the wall. Plaintiff testified that when he climbed about 10 to 12 feet up the ladder to begin working, the ladder started to retract back to its normal position. Plaintiff testified that he heard part of the locking mechanism flapping against the rungs of the ladder as it retracted. Plaintiff testified that the noise sounded like “tick, tick, tick, tick” that one would hear when the locking mechanism on a ladder is unlatched and the ladder is retracting. Plaintiff testified that he held on to the ladder and rode the ladder down. Plaintiff testified that when he neared the bottom of the ladder, his wrist became caught in the rungs and his wrist was shattered. Plaintiff testified that he then fell to the ground. Plaintiff testified that in his opinion the ladder retracted because there was a problem with the locking mechanism.

Plaintiff testified that no one told him to use the particular ladder in question. Plaintiff testified that the ladder was available, so he picked it up and began using it. Plaintiff testified that Rich Olson was his supervisor at EGM and that he only saw Olson once to go over things. Plaintiff testified that Jay Mastri, of Jay’s HVAC, was his day-to-day supervisor, who then reported to Rich Olson. Plaintiff testified that he had no contact with any employee or anyone related to Madison Services. Plaintiff testified that Madison Services did not provide any of the equipment for the work project.

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Joyce v. Mastri, 861 N.E.2d 1102, 308 Ill. Dec. 537, 371 Ill. App. 3d 64 (Ill. Ct. App. 2007).

861 N.E.2d 1102 (Joyce v. Mastri) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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