Who is liable for compensation for damages here ?

I one of the three partner and authorized signatory of a jointly owned house. We decided to renovate the home and gave the job to one contractor in which we agreed to pay him for Just the labour charges and the material was to be provided by us. All this was verbally agreed. During the course of work, the contractor himself fell from one of the bamboos and died. Reason was that those bamboos were loosely tied. We had no knowledge or experience in terms of construction work and were relying totally on the contrator. Now the the lawyer of the family of the deceased is asking us to compensate a hefty amount and threatening us of legal action. Am I legally liable for the accident?