Alarm Monitoring Company Wins On Summary Judgment

April 1, 2005

Daniel Robyn and Adrian J. Barrio won a motion for summary judgment on behalf of an alarm system installation company in a property damage/tort case.

Plaintiff's home was damaged by flooding allegedly caused by the installation of an alarm system by Security Services Nationwide, Inc. (SSNI). SSNI had a contract with Counterforce U.S.A, an alarm monitoring company, to sell subscriptions to their monitoring service. While installing an alarm system at plaintiff's house, SSNI caused flooding damage to occur. Plaintiffs filed suit against both SSNI and Counterforce U.S.A for negligence. The question in this suit was whether or not Counterforce U.S.A. was responsible for the damage caused by SSNI. The defense filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that SSNI was an independent installation contractor. The court granted the motion, concluding that SSNI was an independent contractor with respect to installation and that Counterforce had no control over the manner and means by which SSNI performed the installation of the alarm system.