Court Opinion

ID: 9644562
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:59:35.150555+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:15.194187
License: Public Domain

NIX, Justice,
dissenting.
This appeal stems from an accident that occurred on December 16, 1970, at a plant of the United States Steel Corporation, (USS). A suit for personal injury was instituted by appellant, Vincent Cardillo, and an action for wrongful death was brought by the Administratrix of the estate of Candido Gonzalez, deceased.. The accident occurred during the performance of a contract entered into between Edward *293Gray Corporation, (Gray) and USS for the tearing out of bricks in a blast furnace, and its four component stoves.
The accident occurred when a wooden chute built by Gray’s employees, Gonzalez and Cardillo, collapsed upon them. The chute facilitated the removal of checker brick debris thrown down the checker chamber into the well and protected the scaffolding supporting the portions of the skimwall that had not been torn out. As a result of the injuries sustained, Gonzalez died and Cardillo suffered serious injury. The suits against USS for personal injury were consolidated for trial and Gray was joined by USS as an additional defendant.
Gonzalez and Cardillo sought to impose liability on USS based on the exceptions to the general rule that one employing an independent contractor is not liable for torts committed by the contractor contained in sections 410, 413, 416 and 427 of the Restatement Second , of Torts.1 The trial judge submitted the case to the jury solely under sections 410 and 413 of the Restatement.2 After the verdict was entered in *294favor of the injured employes, the court, on post verdict motions, denied en banc, the motion for judgment n. o. v., and for a new trial. The matter was then appealed to the Superior Court. That court found that the trial court’s refusal to allow the jury to consider an exculpatory clause of the contract in determining the duty of care owed by USS under section 413 required the grant of a new trial.3 Gonzalez and Cardillo seek reversal of the Superior Court’s award of a new trial. USS has appealed the Superior Court’s affirmance of the judgment n. o. v.4
*295USS contends that even if Sections 410 and 413 are to be held applicable to an employe of the independent contractor, it is entitled to judgment notwithstanding the verdict, as a matter of law. It is argued that liability cannot be found under the terms of Section 410 because the accident did not result from any negligent directions of USS. Section 410 provides:
Section 410. Contractor’s Conduct in Obedience to Employer’s Directions
The employer of an independent contractor is subject to the same liability for physical harm caused by an' act or omission committed by the contractor pursuant to orders or directions negligently given by the employer, as though the act or omission were that of the employer himself.
From the comments to Section 410 it is apparent that the drafters intended to impose liability for ordering or directing work to be done which is dangerous in itself or dangerous because of the manner in which it is directed to be done. Where the basis for liability rests upon the manner in which it is performed, it must be established that the improper method creating the unreasonable risk resulted from the directions of the employer. Furthermore, liability is also dependent upon whether under the circumstances the employer knew or should have known of the unreasonable risk of physical harm to others (for whose protection he owes a duty) created by his directions.
This concept is not new to the law of this jurisdiction. The general rule provides that one who employs an independent contractor, who is qualified to perform the task, is not responsible for the negligence of the contractor or his employes provided the employer does not personally interfere or assume direction of the work. Heindenway v. Philadelphia, 168 Pa. 72, 31 A. 1063 (1895). See also Fuller v. Palazzolo, 329 Pa. 93, 197 A. 225 (1938); Silveus v. Gross*296man, 307 Pa. 272, 161 A. 362 (1932). However, where the employer controlled the means of conducting and performing the work, our decisions have found a master-servant relationship and has been willing to impose liability. Thus the incident of responsibility is affected by the interference of the employer in the contractor’s execution of the contract. Heindenway v. Philadelphia, supra. The Superior Court, relying upon these principles, held an employer liable because he instructed an independent contractor to erect a sign on a windy day. Weldon v. Steiner, 138 Pa.Super. 66, 10 A.2d 19 (1939). Similarly, in Lasch v. Cohn, 130 Pa.Super. 161, 196 A. 581 (1938), that court held an employer responsible for damages caused by the bursting of a water-back installed, pursuant to the employer’s instructions, by an independent contractor.
The basic law does not appear to be at issue in this lawsuit, but rather the dispute appears to center around its application to the facts of this case. The dispute focuses upon whether there was interference by the employer in the performance of the terms of the contract by the contractor which created the unreasonable risk of harm. To resolve the dispute it must be determined whether the testimony provided a basis for a finding that there was some order or direction of the employer beyond “[the] general right of inspection and supervision that an owner normally enjoys and exercises to insure his receiving from the contractor the benefit of total performance bargained for.” Fisher v. United States, 441 F.2d 1288 (3rd Cir. 1971). The alleged negligent order of USS upon which liability under Section 410 was predicated, is USS’s supposed direction to change the sequence of the tear-out work.
In assessing a motion for judgment n. o. v., we are required to consider the evidence and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from that evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner. Sorrentino v. Graziano, 341 Pa. 113, 17 A.2d 373 (1941). Relying upon this standard of review, the testimony established that the terms of the contract required Gray to remove bricks from the *297checker chamber, starting at the top, and continue to do so until inspection revealed that the good checker bricks had been reached. A rodding test performed by another independent contractor, Pittsburgh Pipe, was utilized to determine when the good bricks had been reached and further tear out in the chamber was unnecessary. Without waiting for the results of the rodding test, Gray made a unilateral decision to begin work in the combustion chamber. The results of the test made it apparent that additional bricks had to be torn out in the checker chamber to comply with the terms of the contract and to properly perform the job that had been undertaken. The evidence thus established that USS did no more than expect performance of the original terms of the contract and that the change in the sequence of the work resulted from Gray’s unilateral decision to begin work in the combustion chamber prior to receiving the results from the rodding test which would have indicated whether the tear-out work in the combustion chamber had been completed.
The record indicates that it was Gray’s idea to use the wooden chute, and that USS did not give Gray any directions whatsoever regarding the chute. Although USS did rig the chute into place, USS was contractually obligated to furnish a crane to perform rigging operations at Gray’s behest. No negligence is alleged with respect to the installation of that equipment and it cannot be contended that the fulfillment of a contractual obligation at Gray’s request evidences USS’s control over the mode and manner through which Gray sought to achieve the bargained for results of. its work. Pennsylvania decisions have generally refused to impose liability upon the employer of an independent contractor for injuries sustained by the independent contractor’s employes when the injury neither resulted from lack of safety in the premises under the control of the employer-landowner nor from concealed defects in these premises. See, Crane v. ITE Circuit Breaker, 443 Pa. 442, 278 A.2d 362 (1971); Funari v. Valentino, 435 Pa. 363, 257 A.2d 259 (1969). Even then, fault based liability cannot be imposed on the *298employer-landowner if the defective conditions were created by the work of the independent contractor or his employes. Celender v. Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, 208 Pa. Super. 390, 222 A.2d 461 (1966). Gonzalez and Cardillo have, therefore, failed to establish an essential predicate for the imposition of Section 410 liability on USS, that is, adducing evidence that the employer gave “orders and directions” as to the mode and manner of performance which caused the injuries.
The other prong of section 410 liability is based on a showing that the employer ordered or directed work to be done which is dangerous in itself. Under this theory, an employer who insists on the performance of a contractual duty can be held liable under certain circumstances. But before the risk of liability can pass to the employer from the independent contractor, the employer must be on notice of the increased danger. In the instant case, Gonzalez and Cardillo who bear the burden of proof on the issue of the employer’s knowledge of the dangerousness of continued performance, did not show that Gray informed USS that the job had become more hazardous than it was prior to the rodding test. Under both Pennsylvania law and the Restatement Second of Torts, USS would not be liable unless it affirmatively knew that the work had become too dangerous for Gray to complete. See, e. g., Weldon v. Steiner, supra. Furthermore, this position is bolstered by Comment C to Section 410, which states:
c. Meaning of “negligently given” orders or directions. The words “negligently given” are used to denote the fact that the employer knows or should know that the work which is to be done, pursuant to his orders and directions, involves an unreasonable risk of causing physical harm to others. Therefore, the orders and directions are not negligently given if the employer neither knows nor should know that the work involves such risk even though the contractor discovers during the progress of the work that such risks will be involved in following the orders and directions. In such a case, the contractor alone is negli*299gent in following his employer’s orders and directions unless he has informed the employer of the risk which has now become appreciable. The employer is not liable unless, having been informed of the risk which the contractor has discovered, he requires the contractor to carry out his original orders and directions, or issues new orders and directions which a reasonable man would not regard as adequate to eliminate the risk involved in following the original orders. Restatement (Second) of Torts, comment to § 410 (emphasis added).
There is no testimony in the record either that Gray told USS of any increased dangers or that USS had any other basis for knowing of any such dangers.
The opinion of the court states that the jury would infer “that USS was negligent in requesting removal of additional bricks at a time when such removal would require Gray to depart from standard procedure and USS was responsible for the creation of circumstances rendering tear-out work dangerous in itself.” The fallacy in the court’s reasoning turns on its assumption that, absent express knowledge of the danger or actual control of the operation of the independent contractor, the employer of an independent contractor has a duty to supervise the ongoing details of the contractor’s performance of the contract under section 410 of the Restatement. Such analysis conflicts with the meaning of section 410, which has to do with the circumstances under which the employer, by his conduct, shifts the risk of liability from the independent contractor to itself, with that of subsequent sections of the Restatement which have to do with nondelegable, nonshiftable risks imposed on the employer of an independent contractor. The reading given section 410 by the majority gives Gonzalez and Cardillo the benefit of theories of duty and liability embodied in section 416 and section 427 of the Restatement; theories which were not submitted to the jury at the trial phase of this case and which are, accordingly, not relevant on this appeal. It is no service to our rule that every inference should be taken to *300sustain the finding for the verdict winner to distort the analytic structure of the Restatement and Pennsylvania case law in order to salvage the jury verdict. Fisher v. United States, supra; Hader v. Coplay Cement Mfg. Co., 410 Pa. 139, 189 A.2d 273 (1963). Cf., Sword v. Gulf Oil Co., 251 F.2d 829 (5th Cir. 1958). This court was not daunted by the presence of a plaintiff’s jury verdict in Brletich v. United States Steel Corp., 445 Pa. 525, 285 A.2d 133 (1971) when it overturned an analytically unsound attempt to stretch section 413 to fit an erroneous application of law to fact.
Again, it should be borne in mind that we are not dealing in the instant case with nondelegable duties of the employer of an independent contractor under sections 416 or 427 of the Restatement. In considering the proper scope of liability, we take into account the caveat that liability should not be lightly extended to penalize the use of the independent contractor so that anyone “having important work of construction or destruction to do would hesitate about entrusting it to anybody.” Silveus v. Grossman, supra. The Restatement requires an employer to select an independent contractor who is competent to fulfill the requirements of the task. In the instant case, the parties agreed that Gray was a competent independent contractor. When a competent independent contractor has been engaged, the employer’s liability is as follows: “Defendants not personally interfering or giving directions respecting the progress of a work, but contracting with a third person to do it, are not responsible for a wrongful act done, or negligence in the performance of the contract, if the act agreed to be done is legal.” Heindenway v. Philadelphia, supra, 168 Pa. at 78, 31 A. 1063.
Finally, Gonzalez and Cardillo cannot recover under Section 413 as a matter of law due to the exculpatory clause in the contract between USS and the independent contractor. Comment C to Section 416 of the Restatement clearly defines the ambit of Section 413 as follows: “Section 413 states the liability of one who employs an independent *301contractor to do such work [work dangerous in absence of special precautions] and does not provide in the contract that the contractor shall take the precautions necessary to make its progress safe.” Accord, Morris v. City of Soldatna, 553 P.2d 474 (Alaska, 1976); Brletich v. United States Steel Corp., 445 Pa. 525, 285 A.2d 133 (1977); Porter v. Iowa Power and Light Co., 217 N.W.2d 221 (1974). There is no question that the exculpatory provision adequately provided for the precautions necessary to make the work safe as it was envisioned at the time the contract was entered into. Section 413 is inapplicable unless, at the time the contract was entered into, the employer should have recognized that the work was likely to create, during its progress, a peculiar unreasonable risk of physical harm to others. See Restatement (Second) of Torts Comment D to Section 427. Under the testimony and the theory of Gonzalez and Cardillo, it is clear that the unreasonable risk was not present at the time the contract was entered into between USS and Gray; but rather arose during the course of the work pursuant to the agreement. Section 413 has no application where, as here, the new risk was created by the negligence of the contractor.
These observations concerning section 413 are consonant with that of the majority, which only fails to act upon its reasoning and analysis by granting USS the judgment n. o. v. on this issue to which it is entitled on the majority’s own reading of the law.
Accordingly, I must respectfully dissent from the majority’s disposition of the case, which should have been resolved by the grant of a judgment n. o. v. in favor of the United States Steel Corporation on all issues properly presented for appeal in this case.

. Section 409. General Principle:
Except as stated in § 410-429, the employer of an independent contractor is not liable for physical harm caused to another by an act or omission of the contractor or his servants.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 409 (1965).

. Section 410. Contractor’s Conduct in Obedience to Employer’s Directions:
The employer of an independent contractor is subject to the same liability for physical harm caused by an act or omission committed by the contractor pursuant to orders or directions negligently given by the employer, as though the act or omission were that of the employer himself.
Section 413. Duty to Provide for Taking of Precautions Against Dangers Involved in Work Entrusted to Contractor:
One who employs an independent contractor to do work which the employer should recognize as likely to create during its progress, a peculiar unreasonable risk of physical harm to others unless special precautions are taken, is subject to liability for physical harm caused to them by the absence of such precautions if the employer
(a) fails to provide in the contract that the contractor shall take such precautions, or
(b) fails to exercise reasonable care to provide in some other manner for the taking of such precautions.

Id.

. The exculpatory clause provided:
The safety of all persons employed by Contractor and his subcontractors on Owner’s premises, or any other person who enters upon Owner’s premises for reasons relating to this contract, shall be the sole responsibility of Contractor. Contractor shall at all times maintain good order among his employees and shall not employ on the work any unfit person or anyone not skilled in the work assigned to him. Contractor shall confine his employees and all other persons who come onto Owner’s premises at Contractor’s request or for reasons relating to this contract and his equipment to that portion of Owner’s premises where the work under this contract is to be performed or to roads leading to and from such work sites, and to any other area which Owner may permit Contractor to use.
Contractor shall take all reasonable measures and precautions at all times to prevent injuries to or the death of any of his employees or any other person who enters upon Owner’s premises. Such measures and precautions shall include, but shall not be limited to, all safeguards and warnings necessary to protect workmen and others-against any conditions on Owner’s premises which could be dangerous and to prevent accidents of any kind whenever work is being performed in proximity to any moving or operating machinery, equipment or facilities, whether such machinery, equipment or facilities are the property of or are being operated by, the Contractor, his subcontractors, the Owner or other persons.
It is understood that if employees of Owner shall perform any acts for the purpose of discharging the responsibility undertaken by the Contractor in this Article 16, whether requested to perform such acts by the Contractor or not, such employees of the Owner while performing such acts shall be considered the agents and servants of the Contractor subject to the exclusive control of the Contractor.

. Gray did not appeal the decision of the trial court and is therefore, not a party in the present appeal.
*295The Superior Court gratuitously suggested that USS might also be liable under Sections 416 and 427 of the Restatement. Since this was not an issue raised by the parties in the appeal to that court, we ignore that and will not consider it here. Weigand v. Weigand, 461 Pa. 482, 337 A.2d 256 (1975).