Contractor Not Liable to Worker Hit by Scaffolding During Cell Phone Conversation—Court of Appeal - Metropolitan News-Enterprise, CA
A jury’s verdict absolving two contractors of liability for injury suffered by a subcontractor’s supervisor hit by falling scaffolding was supported by evidence that the plaintiff was looking down and talking on his cell phone while workers tried to warn him of potential danger, the Court of Appeal for this district ruled yesterday.
“Here, it is ironic that Eric Jonkey...a seasoned and mature construction worker who had risen in the industry to a position of management and ownership, could be injured in the way we shall describe,” Justice Kenneth Yegan wrote. “Of all people at a construction site, appellant was and is chargeable with caring for his own safety. That he was walking near scaffolding which was being disassembled at a construction site looking down absorbed in a cell-phone conversation is tantamount to strolling on a battlefield wearing ‘horse blinders’ and ear-plugs. While we regret that he was injured, he should be grateful that he wasn’t killed.”