Law360, New York ( March 27, 2017, 11:26 AM EDT) -- In a decision that drew an argument-rich dissent, the San Antonio Court of Appeals held that a general contractor (GC) did not owe a duty of care to a subcontractor's employee injured by his co-employee even though the GC knew of the co-employee's past safety violations on other projects, had barred the co-employee from the project at hand, and knew that the employee was nonetheless working on the project. Joeris General Contractors Ltd. v. Cumpian.[1] The case is important. It exposes the difficulty of determining whether a GC has incurred a duty of care by exercising control over its subcontractors. Then-Chief Justice Thomas Phillips noted over 16 years ago that "[o]ur focus on the degree of the general contractor's 'retained control' has failed to provide either consistent or equitable results, and I believe that a thorough reconsideration of this area is in order."[2] Joeris and its dissent suggest that "this area" remains unsettled....