Opinion ID: 1671205
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the claim of karen a. george administratrix of the estate of david h. george

Text: Elder, Inc., the employer of David George, paid worker's compensation benefits to the estate of George. The estate elected to seek recovery for wrongful death against Sherman & Fletcher, claiming that Sherman and Fletcher was responsible as a third party whose negligence had caused the death. The negligence attributed to Sherman and Fletcher was that it failed to properly supervise the construction project and failed to require that the concrete block wall under construction be adequately braced. Sherman & Fletcher was granted a summary judgment on the claim of the George Estate on the ground that the worker's compensation statutes precluded such recovery. K.R.S. 342.610 provides that (1) every employer subject to the chapter shall be liable for compensation for injury without regard to fault, (2) a contractor who subcontracts any part of his contract shall be liable for the payment of compensation to the employees of the subcontractor unless the subcontractor primarily liable for the payment of such compensation has secured its payment as provided by Chapter 342, and (3) a person who contracts with another to have work performed of a kind which is a regular or recurrent part of the work of the trade, business, occupation or profession of such person, shall be deemed a contractor and such other person a subcontractor. K.R.S. 342.690(1) provides: If an employer secures payment of compensation as required by this chapter, the liability of such employer under this chapter shall be exclusive and in place of all other liability of such employer to the employe, his legal representative, husband or wife, parents, dependents, next of kin, and anyone otherwise entitled to recover damages from such employer at law or in admiralty on account of such injury or death. For purposes of this section, the term `employer' shall include a `contractor' covered by KRS 342.610, whether or not the subcontractor has in fact, secured the payment of compensation. The liability of an employer to another person who may be liable for or who has paid damages on account of injury or death of an employe of such employer arising out of and in the course of employment and caused by a breach of any duty or obligation owed by such employer to such other shall be limited to the amount of compensation and other benefits for which such employer is liable under this chapter on account of such injury or death, unless such other and the employer by written contract have agreed to share liability in a different manner. The exemption from liability given an employer by this section shall also extend to such employer's carrier and to all employes, officers or directors of such employer or carrier, provided the exemption from liability given an employe, officer or director or an employer or carrier shall not apply in any case where the injury or death is proximately caused by the wilful and unprovoked physical aggression of such employe, officer or director. The statutes make it plain that if Sherman & Fletcher is a contractor, it has no liability in tort to an injured employee of a subcontractor. It is also clear that Sherman & Fletcher is a contractor if the work subcontracted to George's employer is work of a kind which is a regular or recurrent part of the work of the trade, business, occupation or profession of Sherman & Fletcher. Elder, Inc., George's employer, contracted to perform the rough framing carpentry on the project. It cannot be disputed that rough framing carpentry is work of a kind which is a regular or recurrent part of the work of the occupation or trade of building construction in which Sherman & Fletcher was engaged. Mrs. George claims, however, that the subcategory of carpentry which is designated as rough framing was a type of carpentry which Sherman & Fletcher did not do for itself but usually subcontracted to others. We agree with the Court of Appeals that such a distinction is of no significance. The purpose of the provision of K.R.S. 342.610 that a contractor is liable for compensation benefits to an employee if a subcontractor who does not secure compensation benefits is to prevent subcontracting to irresponsible people. Elkhorn-Hazard Coal Land Corp. v. Taylor, Ky., 539 S.W.2d 101, 103 (1976). In Bright v. Reynolds Metals Co., Ky., 490 S.W.2d 474 (1973), we held that a principal contractor was one who performed work for another. Reynolds Metals Company acted as its own contractor, but it was not performing work for another and therefore was held not to be a principal contractor under the statute in force at that time. Because of that fact, Reynolds Metals was held to have no liability for compensation to the employee of a subcontractor and a tort claim was therefore allowed. The decision in Bright v. Reynolds Metal Co., supra , pointed out that the statutes of many states provided that a person who contracted for work to be done by another which was of the kind he usually performed for himself was construed to be a principal contractor. Our statute had no such provision at that time. Following the decision in Bright v. Reynolds Metals Co., supra , the General Assembly enacted K.R.S. 342.610 in its present form which provides that a person who contracts with another to do work of a kind which is a recurrent part of the work of the trade or occupation of such person shall be deemed a contractor. We construe this to mean that a person who engages another to perform a part of the work which is a recurrent part of his business, trade, or occupation is a contractor. Even though he may never perform that particular job with his own employees, he is still a contractor if the job is one that is usually a regular or recurrent part of his trade or occupation. The business or occupation of Sherman & Fletcher was building construction, and rough carpentry is work of a kind which is a regular or recurrent part of the work of the business of building construction. Sherman & Fletcher would have been liable for the worker's compensation benefits to David George if Elder, Inc., his employer, had not secured those benefits. K.R.S. 342.610(2). That potential liability for worker's compensation benefits relieves Sherman & Fletcher from tort liability. K.R.S. 342.690.