Court Opinion

ID: 9578099
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:41:28.522079+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:22:37.874991
License: Public Domain

Felton, C. J.,
dissenting in Case No. 36136. The contract between the plaintiff and E. Jack Smith, the principal contractor, provides:
“Article 3. Contractor’s duties and status. The contractor recognizes the relations of trust and confidence established between him and the owner by this agreement. He covenants with the owner to furnish his best skill and judgment and to cooperate with the architect in forwarding the interests of the owner. He agrees to furnish efficient business administration and superintendence and to use every effort to keep upon the work at all times an adequate supply of workmen and materials, and to secure its execution in the best and soundest way and in the most expeditious and economical manner consistent with the interests of the owner.
“Article 8. Contractor’s financial responsibility. All cost due to the negligence of the contractor or any directly employed by him, either for the making good of defective work, disposal of material wrongly supplied, making good of damage to property, or excess costs for material or labor, or otherwise, shall be borne by the contractor, and the owner may withhold money due the contractor to cover any such cost already paid by him as part of the cost of the work.
“The article supersedes the provisions of Articles 13, 19 and 20 of the general conditions of the contract so far as they are inconsistent herewith.
“Article 9. Subcontracts. All portions of the work that the contractor’s organization has not been accustomed to perform or that the owner may direct, shall be executed under subcontracts unless otherwise directed by the owner. The contractor shall ask for bids from subcontractors approved by the architect *245and shall deliver such bids to him, or the architect shall procure such bids himself, and in either case the architect shall determine, with the advice of the contractor and subject to the approval of the owner, the award and amount of the accepted bid. Such work shall be contracted for with such approved bidders in accordance with terms of this agreement and the general conditions of the contract which conditions shall for the purposes of such contracts, stand as printed or written and not subject to the modifications set forth herein.
“The contractor, being fully responsible for the general management of the building operation, shall have full directing authority over the execution of the subcontracts.
“If the owner lets any portions of the work under separate contracts the separate contractors shall not only cooperate with each other and with the contractor as provided in Article 35 of the general conditions of the contract, but they shall conform to all directions of the contractor in regard to the progress of the work.”
Code § 105-502 provides in part: “The employer is liable for the negligence of the contractor—• ... 3. If the wrongful act is the violation of a duty imposed by express contract upon the employer. . .”
Article 9 provides that certain parts of the work could be: executed under subcontracts in a specified way. There could be no subcontract made by the owner so it is inescapable that all subcontractors contracted with the contractor and not the owner, regardless of how the subcontractor was selected. If the contractor contracted with the subcontractor the subcontractor was1 directly employed by the contractor. The petition specifically alleges that S. D. Mullins was employed by the contractor as a subcontractor to do certain work, including welding operations. There is nothing in the contract between the plaintiff and the contractor to make such an allegation impossible of proof, or contrary to the provisions of the contract between the owner and the contractor. If the owner selected a subcontractor and the contractor alone entered into a contract with him, I do not see how it can be said that the relationship of owner and subcontractor or contractor existed between the owner and the subcontractor.
Carlisle, J., concurs in the dissent.