Anesi Ozmon Partner Steven A. Berman’s Victory For Workers’ Rights Demonstrates That Summary Judgment is Often Improper in Retained Control Cases
ANESI OZMON partner Steven A. Berman recently obtained an important appellate court victory for workers’ rights, setting a new first district precedent to better argue control in construction cases. The Illinois First District Appellate Court reversed the trial court’s ruling that granted summary judgment in favor of a general contractor, dismissing the case of an injured ironworker. The Appellate Court agreed with Mr. Berman’s position that the facts established during discovery created a genuine issue of fact as to whether the general contractor retained supervisory control over work safety on the jobsite and therefore had a duty to exercise that control with reasonable care.
John Foley, a Local 1 Ironworker, was working for a subcontractor, Chicago Town, on a Builtech jobsite in Chicago. Builtech was the general contractor for the new building project and had a full-time superintendent assigned to the project. Mr. Foley was injured when he attempted to pull a piece of rebar from a pile and injured his back. Evidence in the case showed that the rebar pile had been unsafely relocated on the site and stacked in a “tangled mess”.
Chicago Town, in its contract, agreed to be responsible for the...