A recently decided case held that the California Occupational Safety and Health Act (Cal-OSHA) did not impose on a Homeowners Association (HOA) any duty to an independent contractor who was injured in a fall while servicing AC units on rooftops at the HOA complex.
In Iversen v. California Village Homeowners Association, 2011 WL 1034261 (“Iversen“), an independent contractor brought premises liability and negligence causes of action against a HOA seeking damages for injuries he sustained in a falling from a ladder while servicing the HOA’s AC units. The independent contractor alleged that the HOA failed to provide a ladder that complied with Cal-OSHA regulations–a set of provisions that are “intended to assure safe and healful working conditions” for workers in California. The HOA moved for summary judgment by contending that it was not required to comply with Cal-OSHA because the plaintiff was an independent contractor and could not establish that the HOA owed him a duty of care or breached a duty of care.