Opinion ID: 754286
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Heading: The Matteuzzi Standard & Missouri Premises Liability Law

Text: 9 In Matteuzzi, the Missouri Supreme Court set forth the standard for premises liability as follows: 10 It is well settled that a property owner owes an invitee the duty to use reasonable and ordinary care to prevent injury to the invitee, ... and that an employee of an independent contractor who has permission to use a landowner's premises or facilities is such an invitee. If, however, the landowner relinquishes control of the premises to an independent contractor during a period of construction, the duty of care shifts to the independent contractor. The landowner, no longer considered the possessor of the land, is thus relieved of potential liability. On the other hand, to establish that the landowner retained possession and control of the premises and the attendant duty of care, [the plaintiff] must show that the landowner controlled the jobsite and the activities of the contractor.... [T]he owner's involvement in overseeing construction must be substantial ... the control must go beyond securing compliance with the contracts; the owner must be controlling the physical activities of the employees of the independent contractors or the details of the manner in which the work is done. 11 Id. at 132 (quoting Halmick v. SBC Corp. Serv., Inc., 832 S.W.2d 925, 929 (Mo.Ct.App.1992) (other citations omitted)). In an earlier case, Zueck v. Oppenheimer Gateway Properties, Inc., 809 S.W.2d 384 (Mo.1991) (en banc) (Zueck ), the Missouri Supreme Court overruled extant caselaw by limiting the application of the inherently dangerous activity doctrine to tort claims for which workers' compensation was not recoverable. Id. (holding that landowner may no longer be held vicariously liable for contractor's negligence where workers' compensation is available). Read together, Matteuzzi and Zueck carved out an exception, based on whether a landowner relinquished or maintained control over the job site, to the common law exception exempting landowners from liability for injuries sustained by employees of independent contractors who are engaged in inherently dangerous activity and covered by workers' compensation. See Matteuzzi, 866 S.W.2d at 131-32. In short, Matteuzzi and Zueck restored the exception to the general rule of landowner liability vis-a-vis invitees in holding that landowners cannot be held directly or vicariously liability for the injuries of employees of an independent contractor when the landlord relinquishes control of the premises to the independent contractor during a period of construction and the injured employee is covered by workers' compensation. See Matteuzzi, 866 S.W.2d at 132; cf. Zueck, 809 S.W.2d at 390. 12 Missouri courts applying the Matteuzzi standard have defined its applicability in broad terms. See, e.g., Horner v. Hammons, 916 S.W.2d 810, 814 (Mo.Ct.App.1995) (holding that Matteuzzi bars landowner liability whether or not the employee was engaged in an inherently dangerous activity ... and regardless of whether the liability sought to be imposed is vicarious or direct) (citations omitted); Gillespie v. St. Joseph Light and Power Co., 937 S.W.2d 373, 379 (Mo.Ct.App.1996) (Gillespie ) ([L]andowners are not liable for injuries to employees of independent contractors, even if the landowners were directly negligent, if the employer of the injured employee is liable for workers' compensation.). However, these statements must be read in the context of the facts of these cases which describe injuries that occurred in the course of performing or preparing to perform the contracted work. Moreover, neither Matteuzzi, Zueck, nor their progeny have dismantled the long standing doctrine that a property owner owes an invitee the duty to use reasonable and ordinary care to prevent injury to the invitee, ... and ... an employee of an independent contractor who has permission to use a landowner's premises or facilities is such an invitee. Matteuzzi, 866 S.W.2d at 132 (internal cites omitted). Indeed, Matteuzzi did not address whether a landowner who retains control of common areas unrelated to the performance of the contracted work also retains the duty of care to ensure that such areas are safe for employees of independent contractors. Further, Missouri courts have yet to hold that a landowner is not liable to an employee of an independent contractor under those circumstances. Moreover, the cases that extend the scope of Matteuzzi are clearly distinguishable from the present case because, in those cases, the employees of the independent contractor were injured in the course of performing the contracted work for which they were hired. See, e.g., Gosnell v. Mullenix, 11 F.3d 780 (8th Cir.1993) (Gosnell ) (Missouri law) (plumber fell from elevated walkway during construction of apartment complex); Owens v. Shop 'N Save Warehouse Foods, 866 S.W.2d 132 (Mo.1993) (painter slipped on scaffolding painted, at landowner's insistence, in a color not available in non-slick safety spray); Gillespie, 937 S.W.2d at 374-75 (employee of independent contractor fell through gap between steel beams hidden by accumulated dust and insulation while installing cable on top of beams); Lawrence v. Bainbridge Apartments, 919 S.W.2d 566 (Mo.Ct.App.1996) (window washer injured in fall after landowner insisted windows be washed from exterior of the building); Noble v. Bartin, 908 S.W.2d 390 (Mo.Ct.App.1995) (carpenter fell through stairwell when gaining access to area in unfinished residence to install insulation); Halmick v. SBC Corp. Serv., Inc., 832 S.W.2d 925 (ironworker slipped off steel girders while refurbishing airplane hangar); Aubuchon v. Hyland, 820 S.W.2d 613 (Mo.Ct.App.1991) (ironworker fell while raising steel beams during construction of high rise building). See also Matteuzzi, 866 S.W.2d at 128 (carpenter replacing roof rafters injured when brick wall supporting roof collapsed); Zueck, 809 S.W.2d at 385 (painter slipped off platform while painting rafters at St. Louis's Union Station). 13 Accordingly, Matteuzzi has no application in the present case beyond recognizing the principle that employees of independent contractors are invitees and, as such, are owed a duty of care by the landowner when that duty has not been transferred to the independent contractor. See id. Thus, we need not decide under the Matteuzzi standard whether Tyson retained control of LRE's job site by controlling the physical activities of LRE employees or the details of the manner in which the work was performed because the present case does not involve control of a job site or the duty of care owed to employees of an independent contractor, as such. Rather, the present case involves the duty of care owed to invitees in common areas of which a landowner has exclusive control and which are unrelated to the performance of contracted work. 14