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.
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).
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 North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a mechanic’s lien with incorrect (not merely omitted) dates of first and last furnishing is fatally defective under N.C.G.S. § 44A-12, regardless of actual prejudice, and that the cash bond posted to discharge the defective lien must be returned to the property owner even though the contractor prevailed on its breach-of-contract claim at trial.
The Ninth Circuit holds that California’s 10-year construction statute of repose (CCP § 337.15) cannot be extended by equitable tolling to correct a misnamed party, but can be harmonized with CCP § 474’s Doe-substitution mechanism — allowing plaintiffs who timely named unknown contractor
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.