What is the name of your state? South Dakota
Is the general contractor liable for the negligence of their subcontractor for damage to property?
What is the name of your state? South Dakota
Is the general contractor liable for the negligence of their subcontractor for damage to property?
If you are you asking if the prime contractor is "
vicariously" liable for the negligence of its subcontractors, the answer is no. Meaning not in the literal sense of the adverb whereby the negligence of an independent subcontractor is unconditionally imposed upon the prime or principal contractor as a matter of law.
In this regard the relationship of prime and subcontractor (where the latter is an independent entity) is not comparable to that of an employer/employee where the doctrine of
respondeat superior applies charging the employer with the consequences of its employees' negligence or willful misconduct.
What follows is that the prime contractor enjoys a degree of immunity from the mishaps of its independent subcontractors. However, that immunity is not absolute! There are exceptions. And those exceptions are varied and numerous depending on the nature of the work called for by the project, its innate hazards, the responsibilities placed upon the prime contractor in fulfilling the work required by the project, the care required in selecting subcontractors and the degree of control over the subcontractors.
You ask about South Dakota. I can't tell you about South Dakota or even if its courts have ruled on the subject.