Cut Wood Comes Back for Vengeance 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) claim. In Cevallos v. WBB...
Discovery Optional, Part Deux
First Department Upholds Summary Judgment for Plaintiff with Significant Discovery Outstanding As we have previously reported, in civil actions in New York, especially actions involving Labor Law § 240(1), discovery needs to be completed to establish a prima facie...
Bricks & Gravity
Second Department Gives Us Another Iteration of A Classic Labor Law Fact Pattern In a recent decision, the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed a Supreme Court, Queens County decision that granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment to dismiss...
Rushing to Uphold Precedent in the Federal Courts
Federal Court Rejects Challenge to Regular Use Exclusion as Violative of UM/UIM “Stacking” Requirements Recently, the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Dayton v. Hartford Ins., No. 3:20-CV-1833, 2024 WL 1745041 (M.D. Pa. Apr. 23, 2024)...
Is the Customer Always Right?
Service of a Complaint in the Eyes of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court One of the most basic elements to a successful restaurant is good customer service. Similarly, good service, of a complaint, is a basic element of effectively beginning a lawsuit. Recently, in...
Discovery Optional
First Department Upholds Summary Judgment for Plaintiff with Minimal Discovery Exchanged Usually, in a civil action in New York, especially one involving liability under Labor Law § 240(1), some discovery needs to be completed to establish a prima facie case for...
You Don’t Know Jack
Plaintiff Loosens Jack Holding Beam, Gravity Ensues Inevitably, when you read about the Labor Law in New York, you’re going to encounter other laws. Here, a recent decision by the First Department reacquaints us with one of the oldest laws around: gravity. In...
Protected Activity
First Department Digs Deep to Define “Work” Under Labor Law § 240(1) If you have been following along, you know by now that Labor Law § 240(1) affords protection to workers engaged in the erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning or pointing of a...
No Minimum
Crack in Plumber’s Platform is No Joke In a recent decision, the Supreme Court, New York County gave us a reminder that there is no de minims test for the elevation in the elevation-related risk contemplated under Labor Law § 240(1). In Deas v. Turner Construction...