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SUMMARY JUDGMENT OBTAINED ON
FALL FROM LADDER CASE
In Orellana v. 1740 Broadway Associates,L.P., Mendik Realty Company, Inc., & Advanced Contracting Corp., (Supreme Ct., New York County, Index No.: 100115/06), RKT Attorney Denise Bush won Summary Judgment and dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint based on §240, §241(6) and §200 of the Labor Law and third party plaintiff’s complaint for defense and indemnification.
The plaintiff, a demolition worker, claimed that he sustained injuries to his arm when he fell off of a ladder while demolishing a sheetrock/concrete wall. A piece of wall with a metal bracket fell, lacerated his arm and caused him to fall off the ladder. He claimed to have sustained permanent nerve damage to his arm. Our client, the demolition contractor at the job site, subcontracted all the demolition work to the plaintiff’s employer, which was the only entity supervising the work.
The plaintiff testified that he reported only to his employer and that no one other than his employer directed or supervised him. Both the plaintiff and the building owner argued that our client was the general contractor for the job and therefore liable for the plaintiff’s injuries under the Labor Law. Justice Doris Ling-Cohan agreed with Denise's arguments, finding that our client was a “prime contractor” who performed a portion of the overall work and not a general contractor. Furthermore Justice Ling-Cohan noted that the plaintiff and building owner failed to offer any evidence that our client retained any authority to supervise or control the plaintiff’s work. Justice Doris Ling-Cohan thus held that our client was not an agent of the building owner and therefore the duties set forth under the Labor Law did not apply. |
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