If you have suffered a slip and fall injury, and if you need a slip and fall lawyer, call Hector Chavana Jr. for a free consultation at 713-979-2941. Hector knows the cases related to slip and fall injury and will properly evaluate your case.
In Texas, contractors are generally not liable for personal injuries that occur after the contractor completes its work. Under such circumstances, the premises owner and operator, along with the designer could generally be held liable.
“As a rule, to prevail on a premises liability claim a plaintiff must prove that the defendant possessed—that is, owned, occupied, or controlled—the premises where injury occurred. But a party who does not own, occupy, or control premises may nevertheless owe a duty of due care if it undertakes to make the premises safe for others.” Wilson v. Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept., 8 S.W.3d 634, 635 (Tex. 1999).
In Allen Keller Co. v. Foreman, 343 S.W.3d 420, 426 (Tex. 2011) the Court held that a contractor (Keller) had no duty to warn the public about a dangerous condition on a property because he had completed work seven months before the injury occurred. Keller had completed work on a roadway that had a dangerous condition, a gap between the guardrail and the embankment. Id. The county accepted the work, and seven months later, a plaintiff fell through that gap and died. Id.
The Court reasoned that Keller’s contract required absolute compliance with the contract Keller had signed, and that Keller had no discretion on the contract. Id. at 425-426. The Court also held that Keller did not have a duty to rectify the design because he did not own the property. Id. at 425-426 (“In this case, any decision that Keller would have made to rectify the dangerous condition would have had the effect of altering the terms of the contract. Moreover, because Keller did not own the property, it was not in a position to make decisions about how to make the premises safe.”).
The Court does discuss some scenarios under which a contractor can be held liable, even after he completed the work. For example, if the contractor undertakes to make the premises safe after he completes the work, or if the contractor has discretion in his work. Similarly, if the contractor designs the work, the contractor could be held liable.
If you have suffered a slip and fall injury, and if you need a slip and fall lawyer, call Hector Chavana Jr. for a free consultation.