Glaus Pyle Schomer Burns and Dehaven, Inc. is in the telecommunications business. Part of Glaus Pyle’s operations includes doing work for major cell companies by providing site audits on cell phone transmission equipment. Glaus Pyle subcontracted with ITC Service Group, which provided workers to conduct the site audits. Under this contract, employees of ITC Service Group traveled to the locations of the cell phone transmission sites being audited to conduct the site inspections. ITC Service Group assigned Chris Anderson to the job of inspecting the sites.
In June 2009, Anderson was injured when conducting a field inspection of cell phone transmission equipment. Anderson’s injury stemmed from exposure to radio frequency radiation emitted from the cell tower. Anderson filed a workers’ compensation claim against ITC Service Group, and he settled that claim. In June 2011, Anderson sued Glaus Pyle, alleging negligence and gross negligence in connection with his injuries. The theory of his case was that Glaus Pyle negligently maintained the site and was grossly negligent in failing to protect him from excess radiation.
Glaus Pyle filed a motion for summary judgment, contending it did not owe Anderson a duty of care because employees of an independent contractor cannot sue the third party that hired the contractor to do the work. The trial court agreed with Glaus Pyle, granting summary judgment. The Court of Appeal affirmed in the unpublished case of Anderson v Glaus Pyle Schomer Burns and Dehaven, Inc.
In affirming the dismissal, the Court of Appeal relied on the “Privette” doctrine. “Generally, when employees of independent contractors are injured in the workplace, they cannot sue the party that hired the contractor to do the work. . . . [¶] By hiring an independent contractor, the hirer implicitly delegates to the contractor any tort law duty it owes to the contractor’s employees to ensure the safety of the specific workplace that is the subject of the contract.” (SeaBright Ins. Co. v. US Airways, Inc. (2011) 52 Cal.4th 590, 594; see Privette v. Superior Court (1993) 5 Cal.4th 689, 696; Toland v. Sunland Housing Group, Inc. (1998) 18 Cal.4th 253, 257 [the hiring person “has no obligation to specify the precautions an independent hired contractor should take for the safety of the contractor’s employees” and “[a]bsent an obligation, there can be no liability in tort”].)