Schlosser v. Rock Industries, Inc.

Summary

The Indiana Supreme Court abandoned the common-law acceptance rule, under which contractors generally owed no duty to third parties after the owner accepted their work. Applying the modern foreseeability approach, the court held that Rock Industries' alleged negligence in creating a snow pile had to be evaluated under traditional negligence principles and that proximate cause was best determined by the trier of fact. The court reversed the trial court's summary judgment for Rock Industries and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Indiana abandons the acceptance rule, under which contractors generally owed no duty of care to third parties after the owner accepted the work, and adopts evaluation under traditional negligence principles and the foreseeability doctrine.
2. Rock Industries was not entitled to summary judgment on the ground that its conduct was not the proximate cause of Plaintiffs' injuries because that issue was best determined by the trier of fact.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the common-law acceptance rule barred negligence liability against a contractor after the owner accepted the contractor's work.
2. Whether Rock Industries was entitled to summary judgment because its work had been accepted by the State or because its conduct was not the proximate cause of Plaintiffs' injuries.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded