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...
It Wasn’t Me.
Difference Between I and II Runs Out Clock for Labor Law § 240(1) Claim There are competing forces in the law in New York, and if you’ve been following along, it would seem that the Labor Law is consistently King of the Hill. Make no mistake, the Labor Law,...
Cut The Red Wire
First Department Diffuses Plaintiff’s Labor Law Claims Car accidents don’t usually feature in Labor Law fact patterns. Injuries to plaintiff in Labor Law claims usually occur on the jobsite, while they are outside of a vehicle, and § 240(1) (the “Scaffold Law”)...
Consistently Irrelevant Inconsistencies
Climbing Wrong Side of Ladder Still Prima Facie for Labor Law § 240(1) Claim If you were wondering “What if plaintiff completely disregards the warning labels on a ladder? Does he still have a Labor Law § 240(1) claim if he then falls off of it?” -- it’s your lucky...
Case Extinguisher
Preclusion Spoils Defendant’s Opposition Plans On a normal day, it’s tough to be a Labor Law defendant in the State of New York. In a recent decision, the First Department shows us just how much worse it can get if Labor Law defendants forget the fundamentals of New...
Airbnb Blues
Homeowners Clobbered by Pricing, Interest Rates, and the Labor Law. The Appellate Division, First Department, in a recent decision, took the time to clarify some details about the homeowner’s exception to Labor Law §§ 240(1) and 241(6). The context is important –...