Tort Law

Brien Roche

This page within Virginia Tort Case Law is a compilation of cases reported by the Virginia Supreme Court and summarized by Brien Roche dealing with the topic of Subcontractors.

1990 MacCoy v. Colony House Bldrs., 239 Va. 64, 387 S.E.2d 760.

Independent contractor is one who undertakes to produce given result without being controlled as to method by which he attains results. Electrical subcontractor in this case was deemed to be independent contractor because: (1) he was paid fixed fee; (2) was subject to hire and fire; (3) there were no benefits paid; and (4) he controlled method of work. As a matter of law, the electrical subcontractor was an independent contractor.

1979 “Automatic” Sprinkler Corp. v. Coley & Peterson, Inc., 219 Va. 781, 2 S.E.2d 765.

Water pipes in Roanoke civic center burst before construction completed. Subcontractor had standing to sue for damage to his work before it had been finally inspected.

1962 Smith v. Grenadier, 203 Va. 740, 127 S.E.2d 107.

General contractor not responsible for negligence of subcontractor unless masterservant relationship exists, i.e., general contractor controls results and method of doing work; work wrongful per se; nuisance; inherently dangerous.

For more information on subcontractors see the pages on Wikipedia