Criteria for Labor Law 200 Claim Explained

The plaintiff fell when a plank on a catwalk broke.  In the course of the decision, which addressed several Labor Law claims, the Second Department explained the criteria for a Labor Law section 200 cause of action based on an alleged dangerous condition:

Labor Law § 200 “is a codification of the common-law duty imposed upon an owner or general contractor to maintain a safe construction site” …. Where, as here, a “premises condition is at issue, property owners may be held liable for a violation of Labor Law § 200 if the owner either created the dangerous condition that caused the accident or had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition that caused the accident” …. In opposition to the defendants’ prima facie showing that they lacked actual notice of a dangerous condition, the plaintiff’s deposition testimony that he had seen rotten, discolored planks on the catwalk and had reported the condition to the defendants’ foreman on three occasions in the two months prior to his accident was sufficient to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether the defendants had actual notice of the dangerous condition. Moreover, photographs of the broken catwalk in the record show cracked, warped, and discolored planks. Thus, the defendants failed to establish, prima facie, that they lacked constructive notice of the alleged defect …. Ramirez v Metropolitan Transp Auth, 2013 NY Slip Op 03314, 2nd Dept, 5-8-13