One Reason Why, Under NY Law, You May Want To Hire A General Contractor Rather Than A Construction Manager February 8, 2010

In a negligence case that I recently defended, my client, a real estate developer, opted to hire a construction manager rather than a general contractor to oversee the development of this New York City building. Apparently, one of the main distinctions between a general contractor and a construction manager is the level of responsibility they take for the job: while the general contractor assumes full responsibility and oversight of the construction, including the hiring and retention of subcontractors, a construction manager, by contrast, acts in an advisory capacity, and does not necessarily control or dictate the manner in which the work is performed, or hire any of the subcontractors; that remains the owner’s job.

Not surprisingly, these distinctions have ramifications in terms of these parties’ respective exposure to liability for construction site accidents. Unlike the site owner and a general contractor, who are both explicitly named in Labor Law §§ 240(1) and 241(6) as potentially liable parties for work site accidents, a construction site manager’s liability for worksite accidents is less certain; if he neither directs nor controls any of the work being performed, he may escape liability altogether (assuming there is no contractual indemnity), leaving the owner one less important avenue for contribution.

Jonathan Cooper is a New York Business Litigation and New York Commercial Litigation Lawyer with a focus on New York breach of contract and New York business fraud claims before the Nassau, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Westchester and Suffolk County courts of New York State. For more information, feel free to contact his Long Island office at 516-791-5700.

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