General Contractor’s Liability for Ice and Snow at Work Site/Criteria for Indemnification of General Contractor

In a common law negligence and Labor Law 200 action, the Second Department explained when a general contractor can be held liable for a dangerous condition.  Here the plaintiff was injured when he slipped on ice and snow at the work site.  The general contractor was seeking indemnification under a contract:

“[A] party seeking contractual indemnification must prove itself free from negligence, because to the extent its negligence contributed to the accident, it cannot be indemnified therefor” …. ” Where, as . . . here, a plaintiff’s injuries stem not from the manner in which the work was being performed, but, rather, from a dangerous condition on the premises, a general contractor may be liable in common-law negligence and under Labor Law § 200 if it has control over the work site and actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition'” …. [The general contractor] failed to establish, prima facie, that it lacked control over the work site or notice of the allegedly dangerous condition, thus precluding a finding, as a matter of law, that it was not negligent ….  Mikelatos v Theofilaktidis, 2013 NY Slip Op 02382, 2012-00163, Index No 19488/05, 2nd Dept 4-10-13