Donna Hargis

Summary

The court held that violation of the applicable Kentucky occupational-safety regulation constituted a violation of the underlying safety statute, supporting a negligence-per-se action under the separate statutory remedy for persons within the protected class. Those protections extended to Hargis, a self-employed independent contractor working at Baize's controlled workplace, and the evidence permitted a jury to consider both causation and comparative fault. The court also held that Hargis's release did not exculpate Baize from liability for his own negligence or for violating a safety statute, and it reversed and remanded for entry of partial summary judgment on Baize's liability. Justice KELLER, dissenting, would have held that the occupational-safety statute barred the action because it did not create an independent cause of action.