Morrison Mahoney Partner Bill Staar and Associate Linda Smith filed a successful motion for summary judgment in New Hampshire Superior Court on behalf of a school-bus company.
The plaintiff, a school-bus driver, allegedly slipped on ice, fell, and suffered severe injuries in a parking lot leased by his employer while preparing his bus for the day. He and his wife brought suit against the property’s ice-and-snow-removal contractor. That contractor filed a third-party claim against the plaintiff’s employer for express and implied indemnification and contribution. The court rejected all of those claims, noting that, although the school-bus company potentially owed contractual indemnity to the property owner – which was not a party to the case – it owed no duties to the contractor: The contractor was neither named as an additional insured under the school-bus company’s policy nor as an intended beneficiary under the company’s lease agreement with the property owner.
