Who is Liable?

[mthead]

In instances similar to this the electrician who has filed with my agency will either request a service rendering of there application or partial rough in final only with an explanation of the cicumstances appearing on the certificate-you should do all you can to divorce yourself from the job and create a record of same.

 

[Jim W in Tampa]

Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 2:29 pm Post subject:

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memyselfandI wrote:
You touch it, you break it, you fix it. Your off the hook.


That is absolutely untrue. If you believe that, you are seriously deluding yourself. The reason one buys liability insurance is because you WILL be sued if something goes wrong on a job you touched. Even supply houses get sued from time to time when thy supplied materials to a job that goes bad.

They sure do and i sued and won after there salesman said warranty would cover it and it didnt.They goofed in firing him before trial.I only sue when i know i will win

 

[davedottcom]

I spoke to the building dept... They said the home owner did "cancel" the first permit and the new permit lists himself as the electrician just as he said.
I asked about liability and their answer was... "Who ever is on the permit when it gets inspected has 100% liability" Since the homeowner made the changes to the wiring AND the permit BEFORE the rough wiring was inspected he has assumed 100% of the liability.
Now, if the rough-wiring had been inspected under my name, that would be different, I would still have "some" liability.
It wasn't! so, I don't!



Dave

 

[dlhoule]

Good for you Dave. I am glad for you. It sounds as though the HO may not have been out to screw you. Just very unhappy with builder.

 

[petersonra]

My ONLY concern now is removing my liability since the wiring has now been altered and who knows what he's doing!

IANAL, but I see no way you can eliminate your liability in this situation. You did work on this project. You are responsible for that work. It does not matter much who's name is on the permit. If you were working as a sub to another EC and their name was on the permit, but you did work on the project, you still have liability for the work you did.

It is up to a court to determine if you are at fault if something goes wrong.

Again, this is why you buy liability insurance.

Chances are nothing bad will happen. Document in as official a way as you can and move on. If you don't trust this advice, check with your lawyer. You do have a lawyer for your business, right?

 

[davedottcom]

dlhoule, The home owner had absolutely no problem with my work, but he did have Many (legitamit) problems with builder which finally resulted in him being fired. Unfortunately, my contract was with the builder, not the home owner.

petersonra, yes I have a $1,000,000 Ins. policy. No, I don't have a lawyer...and I hope I never need one!
As far as your sub-liability-scenario, it doesn't hold water, at least not in this state... ANY company working on a permitted project has to be listed on the permit whether they were subbed out or not. They need proof of Insurance, proof of License, proof of worker's comp or exemption, and proof of local occupational license. Without ALL of those things you are NOT allowed to (legally) work on any project. (Unless you are the homeowner!)
I understand what your saying, but that scenario is impossible here in FL. If you're not on the permit, you're not allowed on the property, all legit. workers are liable for their work...until or unless you are removed and/or replaced by someone willing to take responsibilty for the work already completed. The building dept and I are in complete agreement about this. As far as a court seeing it differently...well...it would take a pretty stupid judge to see it differently! I know, I know, they are out there!!!

Like you said, it will probably never lead to anything...but then again, this is the perfect scenario for it leading to something... I have no idea what the home owner is doing to the wiring. Hell, I have no idea what all the other angry subs that didn't get paid are doing to the wiring!!!

I'm not going to worry about it... if it ever did turn into a liability situation I am confident I would have no problem convincing an "honest" judge why my liabilty was removed along with the old permit.

Thanks for all the comments,
Dave