Contractors can be liable for motor vehicle accidents caused by dangerous conditions which they create on the highway. Unlike the state or city, which owns the highway, contractors do not have a nondelegable duty of care to the victims of such accidents. The rules governing contractor liability require proof that the contractor “launched an instrument of harm” or undertook all safety obligations.
Since H.R. Moch Co. v. Rensselaer Water Co., 247 N.Y. 160 (1928), it has been well established that a contractual obligation is insufficient to impose tort liability with respect to noncontracting third parties. Under Moch, the contractor owes no duty to noncontracting third parties unless it “launched a force or instrument of harm, or has stopped where inaction is at most a refusal to become an instrument for good.”
