Courtroom Success 2016-2: Boston Associate Jessica O’Brien

Boston Associate Jessica O’Brien recently obtained summary judgment in a construction accident case in Middlesex Superior Court. Our client is a professional landlord who hired a contractor to repair a roof, but the landlord did not investigate the qualifications of the contractor. One of the roofers fell off the roof and suffered catastrophic injuries allegedly due to poor safety practices at the site. There has been no recognized cause of action in Massachusetts for negligently hiring an independent contractor. The court ruled that the SJC would likely recognize such a cause of action, but there was no evidence that the landlord would have learned anything in such an investigation to deter him from hiring the contractor.