McCann Construction Co. v. Joe Adams & Son

458 S.W.2d 477, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2566
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 18, 1970
Docket17123
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 458 S.W.2d 477 (McCann Construction Co. v. Joe Adams & Son) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCann Construction Co. v. Joe Adams & Son, 458 S.W.2d 477, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2566 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

OPINION

BREWSTER, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment rendered against plaintiff. McCann Construction Company, Inc. brought suit to recover indemnity from Joe Adams & Son (a corporation) under the provisions of a written construction contract that they had each signed and which provided for indemnity in certain instances.

For brevity the plaintiff will be referred to as McCann and the defendant as Adams. We will outline the facts.

McCann was general contractor on the job of building the Sisters of Notre Dame Building at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, in July, 1963. McCann entered into a written contract with Adams giving Adams a subcontract to do certain concrete work in connection with this con *479 struction. This writing contained the indemnity provisions that are involved in this case. McCann constructed wooden forms to be used by Adams in connection with the work Adams was to do under the contract in question. McCann built these forms in such a manner as to provide the desired shape of the building’s concrete piers, beams and canopies. Such forms were so shaped that they extended 18 to 20 feet high above the ground level. It was necessary for Adams to pour the concrete into these forms from above and the forms were to provide the necessary support for the concrete until it set and hardened. The forms were essential in order to do the job that Adams contracted to do.

At a time when the employees of Adams were engaged in doing the concrete work called for by the contract in question, and while they were on top of the forms, as they were required to be, in order to pour the concrete into the forms from above, and at a time when they were actually pouring the concrete and were almost through making the complete pour, the forms holding the concrete suddenly collapsed and the forms, the wet concrete and three of Adams’ employees all fell to the ground below. These employees were Whitly Jaubert, Ollie Jones, and Andrew Roberts, and they all sustained injuries in this fall.

Adams carried Workmen’s Compensation Insurance. This carrier settled the claim for Workmen’s Compensation of each of Adams’ three employees that were injured in this incident.

These three employees then brought a damage suit based on negligence against the general contractor, McCann, seeking damages for their personal injuries sustained upon the occasion in question. The Workmen’s Compensation Insurance Company that had settled with these plaintiffs intervened in the case asking a refund of what it had paid plaintiffs, in the event plaintiffs recovered.

McCann, in that case, made Adams a third party defendant, seeking indemnity from Adams in the event these three employees of Adams were successful in their suit against McCann.

McCann also called on Adams to defend the suit filed against McCann but Adams refused to do so.

Before that case was tried the trial court severed out of it the indemnity controversy between McCann and Adams that is involved in this appeal.

A trial was had between the three injured men and McCann. A jury found that McCann’s negligent conduct in several respects were each proximate causes of the injuries to these men. Based on the jury verdict judgment was rendered against McCann awarding substantial damages to Adams’ three employees.

After that trial was had, both McCann and Adams moved for summary judgment on this indemnity feature of the case. The trial court denied the motion for a partial summary judgment filed by McCann and granted the motion filed by Adams decreeing that McCann was not entitled to be indemnified by Adams to any extent.

We reverse the judgment of the trial court.

Appellee argues that since Adams was a subscriber under the Workmen’s Compensation Law and since that law protected Adams from damage suits by his injured employees, it would be contrary to public policy to let McCann get a judgment against Adams here for indemnity for the very thing that the law protected him against.

We overrule this contention. A subscriber under the Workmen’s Compensation Law is protected against claims for contribution and indemnity arising out of on-the-job injuries to his employees, unless he has contracted for such liability. He can make a valid written contract making himself liable on such claims. *480 City of Beaumont v. Graham, 441 S.W.2d 829 (Tex.Sup., 1969), and Art. 8306, Sec. 3, V.A.T.S. This was the law prior to the time a provision to that effect was placed in that statute by its 1963 amendment, and was the law in 1963 at the time Adams’ employees were injured. Ealand v. Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co., 411 S.W.2d 591 (Beaumont, Tex.Civ.App., 1967, no writ hist.). These men were injured on July 10, 1963. The 1963 amendment to Art. 8306, Sec. 3, V.A.T.S., did not become effective until August 23, 1963. See Vol. 22, V.A.T.S., page 83 (Historical note).

The only parts of the written contract between McCann and Adams that can be said to in any way relate to the indemnity question are the paragraphs numbered VIII and V. They are here set out.

“ARTICLE VIII. The Contractor shall protect, indemnify and save McCann Construction Company, Inc., and Owner harmless from any and all claims, suits and actions of any kind or description, for damage or injuries to persons or property received or sustained by any party or parties through or on account of any act or in connection with the work of the Contractor or its agents or servants or subcontractors, or any default or omission of the Contractor, or its agents or servants or sub-contractors in the performance of this contract, or through the use of improper or defective materials or tools or on account of injury or damage to adjacent buildings or property occasioned by work under this contract, or through failure to give the usual requisite and suitable notices to all parties, whose persons, estates or premises may be, in any way, interested in or affected by the performance of this work, and at its own cost shall defend any and all suits or actions that may be brought against McCann Construction Company, Inc., or Owner by reason thereof, and in the event of the failure of the Contractor to defend such suits McCann Construction Company, Inc., shall have the right and power to defend same and charge all costs of such defense to the Contractor or its Surety.”
“ARTICLE V. The Contractor shall effectually secure and protect its work and shall bear and be liable for all loss or damages of any kind which may happen to the work or any materials to be incorporated therein at any time prior to the final completion and acceptance thereof.
“McCann Construction Company, Inc. shall not be responsible for any damage done to the work or property or the contractor, unless such damage shall be caused by the direct negligence of McCann Construction Company, Inc.”

In Texas an agreement to indemnify the indemnitee for loss proximately caused by his own negligence is valid. Such an agreement is not against public policy. Ohio Oil Company v.

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Bluebook (online)
458 S.W.2d 477, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2566, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccann-construction-co-v-joe-adams-son-texapp-1970.