The First Department held that inaccurately transcribing a seizure date onto a DMV physician form is ordinary negligence governed by a three-year limitations period.
The First Department dismissed a school aide’s injury claim because a recess contractor owed no third-party duty and an errant basketball was an assumed risk.
The First Department held that a scaffold can violate Labor Law § 240(1) by tipping during operation even without a physical defect, and rejected sole-proximate-cause and recalcitrant-worker defenses.
The First Department held that conflicting expert opinions over the governing Building Code prevented an out-of-possession owner and manager from defeating a worker’s concealed-hole claim.
The First Department affirmed dismissal of a ureter-injury malpractice claim because the plaintiff’s expert did not answer the defense explanation that delayed tissue damage would not have been visible during surgery.
The First Department reinstated a Labor Law § 241(6) claim over a cracked exterior step while preserving negligence issues and dismissing contribution claims barred by the Workers’ Compensation Law.
The First Department kept a delayed pulmonary-embolism claim against a hospital alive but dismissed the treating emergency physician because the opposition relied on facts contradicted by the medical record.
The First Department affirms partial summary judgment under the Scaffold Law, holding that terra cotta coping used as a suspended scaffold anchor point is subject to Labor Law § 240(1)’s absolute liability standard when it dislodges and strikes a worker below.
The First Department affirms dismissal of a Child Victims Act claim brought by a New Jersey resident abused in New Jersey, holding that CPLR 214-g’s revival window is limited to New York and aligning with the Second Department’s territorial-scope ruling.
The First Department affirms summary judgment under Labor Law § 240(1) where workers manually lowered a heavy metal switchgear without a hoist—even though hoisting equipment had been used on prior days—and the top of the switchgear fell on the plaintiff with enough force to crack his hard hat.
The First Department affirms Labor Law § 240(1) liability against the Bronx construction site owner and contractor while granting summary judgment on common-law negligence against the materials supplier whose forklift operator dropped sheetrock on the plaintiff—and conditionally grants contractual indemnification cross-claims through the construction chain.
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 denial of summary judgment where conflicting expert opinions about whether a building’s heavy granite staircase caused a sidewalk crack created a triable issue of fact, and expressly declined to follow Second Department precedent requiring non-municipal defendants to establish affirmative misfeasance before being liable for a cause-and-create theory of sidewalk liability.
The First Department reversed summary judgment for a commercial building owner in a slip-and-fall case, holding that the plaintiff’s testimony about smelling detergent and seeing mop streaks after the fall raised a credibility contest that precluded summary judgment, even though the building’s porter testified he had not mopped the stairwell that day.
The First Department affirmed a permanent stay of a claimant’s demand for uninsured motorist arbitration after he failed to comply with the SUM endorsement’s notice requirements — specifically, he never filed the required sworn statement identifying the accident as a hit-and-run and establishing the requisite physical contact, until his arbitration demand nearly eleven months after the accident.
The First Department reversed and granted plaintiff summary judgment on liability under Labor Law § 240(1) after his testimony that an eight-foot A-frame ladder moved from side to side and caused him to fall while installing sheetrock — rejecting the owner’s argument that contrary hearsay in post-accident reports raised a triable issue.
A divided First Department reversed the denial of summary judgment for a pharmacy that had no statutory or contractual duty to maintain an abutting sidewalk, holding that once a commercial tenant establishes it had no duty to maintain the sidewalk, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to produce evidence of causation — and proximity of a crack to the tenant’s cellar door is insufficient.
The Appellate Division, First Department, affirms summary judgment for a construction worker who fell when a ladder shifted rapidly, holding that contradictory testimony about the manner of descent is immaterial under Labor Law § 240(1) and that descending a ladder facing away from the rungs constitutes comparative negligence — not a sole-proximate-cause defense — to the Scaffold Law’s absolute liability.
The First Department affirmed vacatur of a procedural default and permission to file an amended complaint alleging sexual assault claims revived by the Adult Survivors Act (CPLR 214-j), holding that expired assault and battery claims are properly revived when the underlying conduct constitutes a ‘sexual offense’ under Penal Law article 130.
The Appellate Division, First Department unanimously affirmed Labor Law §241(6) liability for a construction worker who slipped on a snow-covered staircase, and held that joint-venture partners and investor entities with site-management authority qualify as ‘owners’ subject to strict Scaffold Law liability.
First Department affirms Labor Law § 240(1) summary judgment and rejects a Workers’ Compensation exclusivity defense, holding that shared insurance and the same building location do not prove alter ego status between a property owner, manager, and general contractor.
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.
First Department affirms Labor Law § 240(1) summary judgment for a sheetrock worker who fell from an unsecured ladder, and holds that a Spanish-language affidavit lacking a translator certification was inadmissible under CPLR 2101(b), taking down all documents it purported to authenticate.