The First Department affirms summary judgment for a stone mechanic struck by a 350-pound falling panel, holding that all four defendants — including a post-merger associate, a lobby condominium, and a building manager who contracted for the work — qualify as owners or statutory agents under Labor Law § 240(1).
The Appellate Division, First Department affirmed denial of a construction worker’s partial summary judgment on Labor Law §§ 240(1) and 241(6) Scaffold Law claims, finding the foreman’s testimony that plaintiff was instructed to use a scissor lift — not a ladder — created a triable recalcitrant-worker defense.
The First Department affirmed summary judgment dismissing a contractor’s mechanic’s lien foreclosure claim under New York’s Lien Law willful exaggeration defense after the contractor admitted including over $1 million for work never performed, but denied summary judgment on the owner’s conditions-precedent defense because the parties’ course of conduct raised factual issues about whether notice requirements were waived.
First Department affirms Labor Law § 240(1) summary judgment for a plumber injured when an extension ladder slid, holding that trips to retrieve materials for ongoing work constitute protected ancillary activity under the Scaffold Law.
First Department reinstates a Labor Law § 241(6) claim for a worker who tripped on a floor inlay in a corridor after finding genuine fact issues on whether the space was a ‘passageway’ under the Industrial Code, and holds the integral-to-work doctrine inapplicable absent evidence of active work on the hazard.
The First Department upheld Labor Law §241(6) and §200 liability arising from a Bronx building floor collapse caused by stored-material overloading, and modified the order to award full contractual indemnification against the general contractor.
The First Department reversed summary discharge of a mechanic’s lien, holding that Lien Law § 19(6) authorizes discharge only for facial defects in the notice of lien—substantive validity challenges belong in a foreclosure action, not a summary discharge proceeding.