Opinion ID: 2618356
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Breach of a General Contractor's Duty of Care

Text: A general contractor must exercise with  reasonable care  any control it retains over a subcontractor's work. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 414 (1965) (emphasis added). Whether a general contractor exercised substandard care and thereby breached this duty is a question of fact for the fact finder. See Flowers v. K-Mart Corp., 126 Ariz. 495, 497, 616 P.2d 955, 957 (App. 1980) (question whether duty has been breached ordinarily question for jury), citing Moore v. Maricopa County, 11 Ariz. App. 505, 508, 466 P.2d 56, 59 (1970). Because the issue of breach of duty is linked inexorably with the question of whether a general contractor has retain[ed] the control of any part of the work, § 414, we believe that the issue of retained control is also a question of fact which ordinarily should be left to the fact finder. See Barker v. General Petroleum Corp., 72 Ariz. 187, 195, 232 P.2d 390, 395 (1951) ([W]hat is or is not negligence is a question for the jury, especially where the standard [of] such duty is not fixed but variable.), quoting Hughes v. Shanafelt, 203 Okla. 80, 218 P.2d 350, 352 (1950); see also Moloso v. State, 644 P.2d 205, 212 (Alaska 1982) (It is normally a question of fact for the jury to determine whether an employer of an independent contractor has retained sufficient control so as to make the employer liable.); Rabar v. E.I. du-Pont de Nemours & Co., 415 A.2d 499, 507-08 (Del.Super. 1980); Weber v. Northern Ill. Gas Co., 10 Ill. App.3d 625, 641, 295 N.E.2d 41, 49 (1973); Corsetti v. Stone Co., 396 Mass. 1, 11, 483 N.E.2d 793, 798 (1985) (Whether an employer has sufficient control over part of the work of an independent contractor to render him liable under § 414 is a question of fact for the jury.); Dowell v. General Tel. Co., 85 Mich. App. 84, 94-95, 270 N.W.2d 711, 716 (1978); Riggins v. Bechtel Power Corp., 44 Wash. App. 244, 252, 722 P.2d 819, 823 (1986) (nature and extent of general contractor's duty to subcontractor's employee a factual issue requiring determination by jury). This conclusion, however, does not prevent a trial court from granting summary judgment or a directed verdict in favor of either a worker or a general contractor if such action is appropriate under Orme School v. Reeves, 166 Ariz. 301, 802 P.2d 1000 (1990) (discussing standard for granting summary judgment or directed verdict). In this case, we believe the question of whether Riebe retained sufficient control over Garges' work to be held liable under § 414 for Lewis' injuries was appropriately a question of fact for the jury.