“Job-Built” Ladder Falls at Construction Site Landing Plaintiff Summary Judgment
In a recent decision the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed a Supreme Court, Queens County decision that granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment as to his Labor Law § 240(1) cause of action.
In Keen v. Tishman Constr. Corp. of N.Y., 2024 NY Slip Op 06594, plaintiff alleged that while she was ascending a “job-built” ladder that was already in place when she arrived to perform her work at the jobsite, she needed to step off of the ladder and onto a concrete slab in order to hang a sign. In the process of doing so, when one of her feet was on the concrete slab and one was on the ladder, the bottom of the ladder slid away from the wall while the top of the ladder moved toward the wall, causing her to fall from the ladder. Plaintiff further testified that the ladder was not “footed”, or secure at the bottom, in order to prevent the bottom from slipping away from the wall and it was not “tied”, or secured at the top, in order to stop the top from swaying or falling away from the wall.
The Supreme Court, Queens County granted plaintiff’s motion, noting plaintiff’s undisputed testimony as to how the subject incident occurred satisfied her prima facie burden as to Labor Law § 240(1), but establishing that the subject ladder was inadequate for the task at hand, thereby causing plaintiff to fall and sustain injuries.
The Appellate Division, Second Department agreed with the lower Court, further noting that the defendant’s contentions that there were differing versions of the accident, at most, established comparative negligence, which is not a defense to a Labor Law § 240(1) cause of action.
You can always depend on the Second Department to disregard multiple accounts of the subject incident on a motion for summary judgment and chalking it up to comparative negligence, rather than a question of fact warranting denial of a summary judgment motion.
The Keen decision can be found here.
For additional information, contact Philip D. Priore, Esq. and/or Michael J. Shields, Esq.
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