Imagine someone walking down the street next to a newly constructed building. Suddenly, a defective cornice falls off the building, striking and killing the passerby. Tragedies are often quickly followed by finger-pointing.
If the incident had occurred a century ago and the victim’s next of kin had gone to court, the judge would have likely ruled that the death, happening after the work was done and approved, was caused by the building owner failing to inspect the condition of the cornice. For the contractor, it’s a different story. If it had performed shoddy work, it might have faced the owner’s wrath but not legal responsibility to third parties.