Watkins v. Gabriel Steel Co., 190.
| Decision Date | 06 December 1932 |
| Docket Number | No. 190.,190. |
| Citation | 260 Mich. 692,245 N.W. 801 |
| Parties | WATKINS v. GABRIEL STEEL CO. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Circuit Court, Wayne County; Edward D. Black, Judge.
Action by Louis Watkins against the Gabriel Steel Company. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals.
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.
Argued before the Entire Bench.Wm. Henry Gallagher, of Detroit (Francis Fitzgerald, of Detroit, of counsel), for appellant.
L. J. Carey and George J. Cooper, both of Detroit (Joseph J. Kennedy, of Detroit, of counsel), for appellee.
Jacob Adler was erecting an apartment building on a lot owned by him in the city of Detroit in the year 1928. He entered into a written contract for the furnishing and erection of the steel joists with the defendant, a corporation engaged in their manufacture. It sublet the erection of the joists to J. L. Peters. The plaintiff had the contract for the masonry. It is the claim of the plaintiff that when the third floor was reached the joists were placed in position, but not properly fastened. The masons were about to proceed with their work, and placed planks upon the steel work to permit them to move about thereon. While the plaintiff was superintending the work of his employees, the joists loosened and he was precipitated into the basement and suffered injury, for which he seeks to recover damages in this action.
The case was tried before the court without a jury. After the opening statement of plaintiff's counsel, he called the secretary of the defendant as a witness for cross-examination. His testimony developed the fact that the contract for the erection of the joists had been sublet by the defendant to Peters. Of this the plaintiff had not been theretofore informed. Discussion arose as to the liability of the defendant when the work of erection had been sublet. After some delay, in which counsel submitted authorities to the court, he expressed grave doubt as to the liability of the defendant, and, in order that the question should be determined without the expense of a trial, entered a judgment in defendant's favor, of which the plaintiff here seeks review by appeal.
It clearly appears that Peters was an independent contractor and that he was competent to perform the work undertaken by him. While the general rule is that a contractor is exempt from liability caused by the negligence of an independent contractor or his servants, it is subject to the exception that such liability cannot be evaded, unless proper precautions are taken, when the work to be done is inherently or...
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In re Certified Question from 14TH Dist.
...Co., 244 Mich. 208, 221 N.W. 314 (1928) (sparks from a steam shovel started an adjacent house on fire); Watkins v. Gabriel Steel Co., 260 Mich. 692, 245 N.W. 801 (1932) (a worker fell from third story as a result of improperly fastened steel joists); Tillson v. Consumers' Power Co., 269 Mic......
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