LLF Wins Summary Judgment for Commercial Developers under Privette Doctrine

​LLF Shareholders Renée Welze Livingston and Crystal L. Van Der Putten successfully argued to a Santa Clara County judge that plaintiffs were precluded from proceeding against two commercial real estate landowners for catastrophic injuries sustained by an employee of the refrigeration subcontractor during a renovation project. Relying on the holding in Privette v. Superior Court (1993) 5 Cal.4th 689, the defendants argued that the employee of an independent contractor should not be allowed to recover damages from the contractor’s hirer, and the exclusive remedy for the employee was in workers’ compensation. Plaintiffs argued that one exception to the Privette doctrine applied, namely, that a landowner may be liable to a contractor’s employee when the defendants knew or reasonably should have known of a concealed, preexisting hazardous condition on its premises, of which the contractor did not know, and failed to warn the contractor of it. The court, in Lopez v. S.B.C.C., Inc. et al., Case No. 17CV314841, concluded that under the various contracts between the parties, the contractors were responsible for conducting inspections to determine worksite safety, especially after receiving notice from the landowners of possible structural problems in the area where the employee was injured.

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