Casualty

The plaintiff, as he walked to his delivery truck, slipped and fell on a patch of ice and snow located at a gas station and sustained injuries. Prior to this incident, the defendant-gas station contracted with the defendant-contractor to provide snow and ice removal services at the gas station. The defendant-contractor in turn engaged the defendant-subcontractor to plow and salt the lot. Under both contracts, there were specific terms as to when plowing was to be performed and that approval from the defendant-gas station was needed prior to any salting.

The defendants filed motions for summary judgment. However, the federal district court denied the defendant-gas station’s and defendant-contractor’s motions on the basis that genuine issues of fact existed. In deciding the contractor’s motion, the court held that, pursuant to the terms of the contract with the gas station, the contractor owed a duty to the plaintiff. The court reasoned that Pennsylvania courts and federal courts have held that, based upon Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 324A and 383, “a plaintiff may bring a cause of action sounding in tort based upon a defendant’s negligent performance of contractual obligations owed to another party.” The court further reasoned that such a duty extends to “the reasonably foreseeable risks arising from performance of contractual obligations.” The court found that there were issues of fact as to whether the contractor acted with reasonable care to protect third persons, such as the plaintiff, from reasonably foreseeable harms related to snow and ice located at the gas station.

 

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