Jeffords v. B.P. Products North America Inc.

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Negligence
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 19-1533
Decision Date: 
June 29, 2020
Federal District: 
N.D. Ind., Hammond Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants’ (project owners and certain contractors) motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s claim that defendants’ negligence was cause of his personal injuries that arose from plaintiff’s fall at construction work site. Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendants did not owe plaintiff duty of care, where: (1) one defendant, who had contractual obligation for “subcontractor safety and performance,” owed no duty to plaintiff, because plaintiff’s employer was not subcontractor for said defendant; (2) contracts in instant case did not contain language assigning to any defendant responsibility for safety of employees of plaintiff’s employer; and (3) record failed to support plaintiff’s claim that defendants had made gratuitous assumption of duty of care toward plaintiff. Also, plaintiff could not use alleged breach of OSHA regulations as basis for his negligence claim, since: (1) said regulations could not be used to expand common law duties under any negligence per se theory; and (2) plaintiff was not party to any of defendants’ contracts calling for compliance with OSHA regulations.