Lee Lewis Construction, Inc. v. Harrison

In Lee Lewis Construction, Inc. v. Harrison, 70 S.W.3d 778, 783 (Tex. 2001), a subcontractor's employee fell to his death at a construction site because he was not provided with appropriate fall-protection equipment. 70 S.W.3d at 782. His survivors sued the general contractor, LLC. Id. In determining whether LLC exercised the requisite control to be held liable for the employee's death, the Texas Supreme Court did not dwell on how the subcontractor's fall-protection system was being implemented. Instead, it focused on whether LLC exercised control over choosing the fall-protection system. LLC's owner and president testified that he instructed one of LLC's employees to make regular inspections of the construction site to ensure that the subcontractor and its employees used proper fall-protection equipment. Harrison, 70 S.W.3d at 784. The LLC employee personally observed and approved of the lanyard system being used by the subcontractor's employees, even though LLC's own employees used an independent lifeline system. Id. There was evidence that the fall would not have been fatal if an independent lifeline had been used. Id. at 784. The Texas Supreme Court held that this evidence was sufficient to establish that LLC exercised control over safety at the construction site. Id. The president of Lee Lewis Construction assigned its job superintendent the responsibility to "routinely inspect the ninth and tenth floor addition . . . to see to it that the subcontractors and their employees properly utilized fall protection equipment." Id. at 784. There was testimony that this employee personally witnessed and approved of the specific fall protection systems that the subcontractor used. Id. There was also evidence that the job superintendent "'definitely did approve' the lanyard system" and "knew of and did not object to the subcontractor's employees using a bosun's chair without an independent lifeline." Id. The Supreme Court concluded the evidence was sufficient to establish that the construction company retained the right to control fall-protection systems on the jobsite. Id.