Regalado

Jeffrey M. Callaghan hired Dunn’s Designer Pools (Dunn’s), a landscape and pool contractor, to build a pool and spa at his home. Victor M. Regalado, a Dunn’s employee, suffered injuries when he installed a propane fueled pool heater on Callaghan’s property. Regalado sued Callaghan for negligence and premises liability. The jury found Callaghan was negligent and assigned 40 percent of fault to him. After applying the jury’s fault allocation and setoffs, the trial court entered judgment against Callaghan in the amount of approximately $3 million.

Callaghan appeals, contending (1) the court erred by failing to instruct the jury that a person who hires an independent contractor is not liable for injuries to the contractor’s employee unless the hirer’s negligent exercise of retained control “affirmatively contributed” to the employee’s injury, (2) insufficient evidence supported the jury’s verdicts on both premises liability and negligence, (3) Regalado’s counsel committed misconduct by urging the jury to base its verdict on protecting the community, (4) the trial court erred by permitting Regalado to recover past wages because Dunn’s had continued to pay his salary after the…