It’s Curtains for Defendant in Temporary Stage Collapse Case
Every so often it’s good to be reminded of what constitutes a “work” for the purposes of the Labor Law.
In a recent decision, the Appellate Division, First Department unanimously affirmed a Supreme Court, Bronx County decision that granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment as to his Labor Law § 240(1) claim and denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint against it.
In Traub v. Basketball City of N.Y. LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op 00931, plaintiff was one of a team of approximately 60 stagehands hired to erect a temporary stage for an awards show in Manhattan. During the course of his employment, he was tasked with wiring an audio system and went backstage to grab the cables needed. While doing so, the lights were turned off during a lighting test, causing plaintiff to become disoriented and fall off the stage because part of a railing was missing.
The First Department agreed with the lower Court and with plaintiff, holding that plaintiff established his prima facie entitlement to summary judgment as a matter of law by establishing that he was engaged in a construction-related activity, and citied long-standing precedent that “a full assessment of the work being performed is required” when determining whether the activity that plaintiff is engaged in falls within the purview of Labor Law § 240(1).
Recall that the Courts are going to look at the Labor Law and construe it as liberally as possible to achieve its intended purpose: protecting workers. That includes not looking at the work plaintiff was performing at the moment of the injury to determine whether it falls under the purview of the Labor Law, but looking at plaintiff’s work in connection with the general context of the work and “analyzing the totality of the work.”
The Traub decision can be found here.
For additional information, contact Philip D. Priore, Esq. and/or Michael J. Shields, Esq.
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