Tverberg v. Fillner Construction 2/24/11 CA1/4

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State: California

Court: 1st District Court of Appeal 1st District Court of Appeal

Docket No: A120050A

Case Date: 07/13/2011

Preview:Filed 2/24/11; pub order 3/25/11 (see end of opn.) Opinion following remand from Supreme Court

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION FOUR

JEFFREY TVERBERG et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. FILLNER CONSTRUCTION, INC., Defendant and Respondent. (Solano County Super. Ct. No. FCS028210) A120050

The trial court granted summary judgment to respondent Fillner Construction, Inc. (Fillner) and dismissed the personal injury action of appellants Jeffrey and Catherine Tverberg.1 The Tverbergs appeal the judgment against them, contending that Fillner is liable for their injuries because of its (1) negligent exercise of retained control and (2) breach of a nondelegable regulatory duty. We reverse the judgment. I. FACTS2 This case came to us after the trial court granted Fillner's motion for summary judgment. Thus, we take the facts from the trial court record at the time that it ruled on that motion, and we review the decision de novo, considering all the evidence set forth in the moving and opposing papers except that to which objections were made and sustained. We liberally construe the evidence in support of the Tverbergs--the parties

For convenience, all singular references to "Tverberg" in this opinion are to Jeffrey Tverberg. 2 This summary of facts is based in part on those set out in the California Supreme Court's June 2010 decision in this matter. (Tverberg v. Fillner Construction, Inc. (2010) 49 Cal.4th 518 (Tverberg).)
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opposing summary judgment--and resolve doubts concerning the evidence in their favor. (See Tverberg, supra, 49 Cal.4th at p. 522.) In 2006, Fillner was the general contractor on a project to expand a commercial fuel facility in Dixon. The project required construction of a metal canopy over some fuel-pumping units. Fillner contracted with subcontractor Lane Supply, which delegated the work to subcontractor Perry Construction, Inc. (Perry). Perry hired Tverberg --an independent contractor--as foreperson of Perry's two-person crew to construct the canopy. Tverberg had more than 20 years' experience in structural steel construction and held a state contractor's license under the name of J.T. Construction--a sole proprietorship consisting exclusively of Tverberg. Fillner also hired subcontractor Alexander Concrete to erect eight "bollards"-- concrete posts intended to prevent vehicles from colliding with the fuel dispensers. On May 1, 2006--Tverberg's first day on the job--subcontractor Alexander had already dug eight holes for the bollard footings. Each hole was four feet wide and four feet deep. The holes--marked with stakes and safety ribbon--were next to the area where Tverberg was to erect the metal canopy. The bollards had no connection to the building of the metal canopy--in fact, Tverberg had never seen bollard holes at a canopy installation site. Tverberg asked Steve Richardson--Fillner's "lead man"--to cover the holes with large metal plates that were on site, but Richardson said that he did not have the necessary equipment to do so that day. Richardson did have his crew use a tractor to flatten dirt that had been piled around the holes. Tverberg removed three or four stakes that marked the edges of some of the bollard holes. The next day, with the bollard holes still uncovered, Tverberg began work on the canopy. He again asked Richardson to cover the holes, but Richardson did not do so. A short while later, as Tverberg walked from his truck toward the canopy, he fell into a

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bollard hole and was injured. His injuries also affected his relationship with his wife, appellant Catherine Tverberg.3 In July 2006, the Tverbergs filed a personal injury action against Fillner and Perry.4 Tverberg alleged causes of action for negligence and premises liability; Catherine Tverberg pled a cause of action for loss of consortium. They sought injuries for physical and mental injuries and lost income under negligence and premises liability theories. It is not clear whether the complaint sought recovery under a peculiar risk theory. That theory became an issue in July 2007, when Fillner moved for summary judgment, asserting that it could not be held vicariously liable for Tverberg's injuries based on Privette v. Superior Court (1993) 5 Cal.4th 689 (Privette). Fillner also asserted that it could not be held directly liable for negligence in failing to provide a safe workplace. The Tverbergs opposed the motion, contending only that Fillner had retained control over safety conditions at the jobsite and should be held directly liable for its failure to eradicate a known danger--the open bollard holes. The trial court granted the motion for summary judgment, finding that Tverberg -- as an independent contractor--could not hold general contractor Fillner vicariously liable on a peculiar risk theory.5 It also rejected the Tverbergs' contention that Fillner could be held directly liable for failing to cover the bollard holes. The trial court found that

Catherine Tverberg's loss of consortium claim turns on the validity of her spouse's injury claim. (See Blain v. Doctor's Co. (1990) 222 Cal.App.3d 1048, 1067.) 4 Perry is a party to the underlying action, but did not obtain summary judgment and thus, is not a party to this appeal.
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The doctrine of peculiar risk is a judicially created exception to the common law rule that one hiring an independent contractor to perform inherently dangerous work is generally not liable to a third party for injuries resulting from that work. Once applicable only to bystanders and neighboring property owners, the doctrine has been expanded to include employees of independent contractors hired by a property owner to perform inherently dangerous work when the employee is injured at the jobsite. The doctrine allows injured persons to seek recovery from the hirer under a vicarious liability theory, so that the injured party need not depend on the solvency of the independent contractor for compensation for injuries. (Privette, supra, 5 Cal.4th at pp. 693-694; see Tverberg, supra, 49 Cal.4th at pp. 524-525.) 3

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Tverberg had been aware of the danger that the open bollard holes posed, that he did not refuse to work around them, and that Fillner had never promised to cover the holes. Finding that Fillner had established a complete defense to the Tverbergs' action, the trial court entered judgment for Fillner in November 2007. In 2008, we reversed the trial court's ruling, reasoning that the Privette doctrine did not bar recovery because Tverberg was an independent contractor rather than an employee covered by the state workers' compensation system. In 2010, the California Supreme Court reversed our decision, holding that an independent contractor hired by a subcontractor may not hold the general contractor vicariously liable on a peculiar risk theory for injuries arising from risks inherent in the nature of the location of the hired work over which the independent contractor has been granted control. (Tverberg, supra, 49 Cal.4th at pp. 521-522, 528-529.) The Supreme Court found that "[b]ecause the bollard holes were located next to the area where Tverberg was to erect the metal canopy, the possibility of falling into one of those holes constituted an inherent risk of the canopy work." (Id. at p. 529.) Although it reversed our earlier ruling, the court remanded the case to us to resolve issues that we did not reach in our 2008 decision, "notably whether [Fillner] could be held directly liable on a theory that it retained control over safety conditions at the jobsite." (Ibid.) II. RETAINED CONTROL A. Affirmative Contribution Requirement The Privette peculiar risk doctrine imposes vicarious liability on the hirer, based on the negligence of the independent contractor, not that of the hirer. (Tverberg, supra, 49 Cal.4th at p. 525; Kinsman v. Unocal Corp. (2005) 37 Cal.4th 659, 668-669 (Kinsman); Privette, supra, 5 Cal.4th at p. 695 & fn. 2.) On appeal, the Tverbergs assert that Fillner is directly liable for their injuries for two reasons. The first of these reasons is Fillner's retention of control over the jobsite and negligent exercise of that control in a manner that affirmatively contributed to Tverberg's injuries. Generally, when an independent contractor is hired to perform inherently dangerous work, the contractor receives authority to determine how the work is to be 4

performed and assumes a corresponding responsibility to see that the work is performed in a safe manner. This authority is delegated by the hirer, either directly or indirectly. (Tverberg, supra, 49 Cal.4th at p. 528; Kinsman, supra, 37 Cal.4th at p. 673.) If a hirer entrusts work to an independent contractor, but retains control over safety conditions at a jobsite and then negligently exercises that control in a manner that affirmatively contributes to an employee's injuries, the hirer is liable for those injuries, based on its own negligent exercise of that retained control. (Kinsman, supra, 37 Cal.4th at p. 670; Hooker v. Department of Transportation (2002) 27 Cal.4th 198, 206, 213 (Hooker); see Rest.2d Torts,

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