J.M.S. Building Maintenance, Inc. v. Adcox

This is a cross-appeal of Adcox v. Atlanta Building Maintenance Co. , __Ga. App.__ Case No. A09A1467, decided November 16, 2009. In that case, we affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of co-defendant Atlanta Building Maintenance Co. “ABM”. In the cross-appeal, J. M. S. Building Maintenance, Inc. “JMS” appeals the denial of its motion for summary judgment. The facts are fully set forth in Adcox . But briefly, “Timothy Adcox alleges that he slipped and fell on ice in his employer’s parking lot. He brought suit against his employer’s janitorial services contractor and subcontractor because the ice allegedly formed when used mop water was discarded in the parking lot.” Adcox , __Ga. App. at __. Adcox’s employer was ADT Security, ABM was the contractor, and JMS was the subcontractor. As set out in Adcox , the key allegations are that a JMS employee discarded used mop water on or near the base of the stairs that lead to the back door of the ADT premises and the water froze on a cold Sunday evening. The employee also set off the back door alarm, to which Adcox responded. Adcox slipped on the ice as he approached the back stairs in response to the alarm.

We affirmed summary judgment in favor of ABM because 1 Adcox failed to present evidence to show “that ABM breached any duty by recommending that the mop water could be discarded somewhere out back, and, accordingly, Adcox has no claim against ABM for negligence arising out of its own actions”; and 2 ABM was not vicariously liable for JMS’s actions because JMS was an independent subcontractor. Adcox , __Ga. App. at __.