If a subcontractor improperly installs something and someone is injured as a result, the subcontractor cannot get out of liability by saying they were just working for the general contractor.


In this consolidated appeal, the court held that based on the Michigan Supreme Court's recent decision in Loweke, the defendant-JCS Fireplace was not entitled to summary disposition. Thus, the court reversed the trial court's order granting JCS Fireplace summary disposition. Plaintiff-Burns lost his home to a fire caused by an improperly installed fireplace on the lower level of his home. He contracted with the original builder, defendant-KW Yoder Construction, to rebuild the home. Yoder subcontracted the fireplace installation to JCS Fireplace. The newly constructed home was destroyed by fire. "An investigation revealed the cause of the fire to be heat generated by the first floor fireplace, with the fire originating within the wood hearth extension of that fireplace." Burns and plaintiff-United Services Automobile Association Casualty Insurance Company (his insurer) sued Yoder and JCS Fireplace. JCS Fireplace successfully moved for summary disposition, arguing that plaintiffs' claims sounded strictly in negligence and, in keeping with Fultz, it owed no duty to plaintiffs. In granting JCS Fireplace's motion for summary disposition, the trial court explained that the only reason it did so was because Fultz compelled this result. In Loweke, the Supreme Court adopted the reasoning of Davis and held "'that a contracting party's assumption of contractual obligations does not extinguish or limit separately existing common-law or statutory tort duties owed to noncontracting third parties in the performance of the contract.'" While the court would normally remand for the trial court to reconsider the motion in light of Loweke, it concluded it was clear that, had the trial court not felt compelled to follow what it perceived to be a conclusion necessitated by Fultz, it would have applied the Davis reasoning and denied JCS Fireplace's motion. Reversed and remanded.