Dive summary:
- Contract language that an equipment-rental company said transferred liability for accidents to Humberto Menendez's employer was not clear enough to get NES Rentals Holdings Inc. out of liability in the worker's 2006 death, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said this week.
- Menendez worked for Steine Cold Storage Inc. when the Minnesota company was doing a job at a Walmart store in Gas City, Ind.
- Menedez died in an accident involving a 40-foot boom list that Steine had rented from NES, and the court rejected NES's argument that its rental contract took it out of a liability suit filed by the worker's family and shifted that problem to Steine.
From the article:
" ... a contract will only be held to provide indemnification for the other's own negligence if 'it is so stated in clear and unequivocal terms,'" which the Chicago-based appeals court said was not the case in this suit. ...
