Jones v. Sorenson, No. C084870 (D3 Aug. 2, 2018)
As a homeowner, this case scares the crap out of me.
Homeowner hired a gardener to trim some trees. Gardener then hired plaintiff as a helper. Plaintiff fell off a ladder and got hurt. Plaintiff sued homeowner, on the theory that gardener’s negligence caused her injury, and that homeowner was on the hook under respondeat superior.
Generally, an injured employee’s only recourse is to workers’ compensation. But if the employer doesn’t have workers’ comp coverage, the employee can sue in tort for negligence. And where a contractor needs to be licensed to perform the work entailed, a person who hires an unlicensed contractor can be subject to liability as a co-employer.
So the question is whether, in this case, a contractor’s license was required. Under the applicable statute, anyone who trims trees is a contractor. But there are exceptions for: (a) someone “performing the activities of a nurseryperson,” and (b) for “gardeners” engaged in “incidental pruning” of trees under 15 feet tall. The gardener exception doesn’t apply, because the tree was more than 15 feet tall. And the nurseryperson exception doesn’t apply, because (as the Court reads the statutory scheme) that applies to a licensed nursery operator engaged in cultivating plants. The gardener here doesn’t meet that description.
So the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the homeowner.
Reversed.
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