Apply Common Sense To Indemnity Claim

A mechanical sub's employee is severely injured during a coffee break when an improperly-fastened section of limestone façade comes loose near where he is sitting. Should the mechanical sub owe a duty of indemnity to the prime contractor? The Massachusetts Appeals Court does not think so, either. It is hard to imagine a set of facts where the mechanical sub's indemnity obligation would arise for this sort of accident.

The Appeals Court was thorough, examining and reciting various terms of the prime contract, in addition to the sub's indemnity obligation. That indemnity, both in the subcontract itself and via the Massachusetts anti-indemnity law, was limited to claims caused by the sub. The GC's argument was that the injured worker's claim arose out of the mechanical sub's work, because otherwise the worker would not have been on the site. Please. The appellate court politely declined to adopt that interpretation. The GC had "overall responsibility" to protect the