Second Department reverses summary judgment for Toll Brothers developer: general contractor failed to eliminate triable issues of fact as to whether it had supervisory authority over concrete delivery operations — that question must go to trial.
Second Department reverses vacatur of arbitration award in construction subcontract dispute: arbitrator properly resolved the matter on written submissions after parties agreed to a paper-based process — skipping a scheduled conference call did not constitute a failure to hold a required hearing.
Second Department affirms denial of property owners’ motion to dismiss Labor Law § 240(1) and § 241(6) claims arising from worker’s elevation-related injury during renovation — Scaffold Law claims survive CPLR 3211 and must be addressed through discovery.
Second Department affirms $1.46 million bench trial judgment for contractor: project owner caused the delays, liquidated damages clause was unenforceable, and contractor properly foreclosed mechanic’s lien.
Second Department affirms duty to defend general contractor as additional insured where injured worker’s deposition in the underlying action established he was using the subcontractor’s ladder — applying the four corners rule’s exception for formal litigation submissions.
Second Department reverses § 240(1) summary judgment where worker struck by unknown object from upper scaffold: plaintiff must identify the object and show it was being hoisted or required securing.
Second Department affirms Labor Law § 240(1) liability where worker was directed to climb a seven-foot stack of doors without a ladder, and upholds CPLR 3126 preclusion of an undisclosed defense witness.
In the companion appeal to the WDF v. Pegno construction dispute over a Newtown Creek project liquidating agreement, the Appellate Division, Second Department affirms denial of summary judgment to the joint venture defendants on their release defense, holding that the release clause is ambiguous as to claims arising from the post-execution City settlement.
In companion decisions on cross-appeals, the Appellate Division, Second Department holds that the release clause in a construction subcontract liquidating agreement is ambiguous as to whether it bars claims arising from the joint venture’s post-execution settlement with the City of New York—leaving the scope of the release and the parties’ cooperation obligations for trial.
The Appellate Division, Second Department reversed a plaintiff’s Labor Law § 240(1) summary judgment after defendants raised a triable issue of fact on the sole-proximate-cause defense, showing that a six-foot ladder was available but that the carpenter chose to use scissor clamps on a cement column instead.
The Appellate Division, Second Department affirms confirmation of a $1.09 million FAA arbitration award in favor of a concrete subcontractor wrongfully terminated during the COVID-19 construction shutdown, rejecting the general contractor’s argument that the panel’s ruling manifestly disregarded the law.
The Appellate Division, Second Department affirms denial of summary judgment on a Labor Law § 240(1) Scaffold Law claim where conflicting testimony created a triable issue of fact as to whether a worker was struck by a suspended load moving under the force of gravity when a backhoe’s tire entered a depression in the roadway.