Alleged Failure to Secure Mirror Which Fell During Removal Required Jury Charge on “Falling Objects” Theory

The Second Department determined Supreme Court erred when it did not charge the jury with Labor Law 240(1) as it applies to falling objects.  The plaintiff was injured when removing a mirror from the ceiling of a shower stall:

…[T]he trial court erred in failing to charge the jury in connection with Labor Law § 240(1) as it applies to falling objects, such as the mirror in this case. “[L]iability may be imposed where an object or material that fell, causing injury, was a load that required securing for the purposes of the undertaking at the time it fell'”…. Moreover, whether the statute applies in a falling object case “does not . . . depend upon whether the object has hit the worker” but “whether the harm flows directly from the application of the force of gravity to the object”….  Here, the plaintiff contended that the accident occurred not only due to the wobbly ladder, but also because the mirror was not properly secured during the removal process, thus causing it to fall. While the object that fell was to be removed as part of the project, the location in which that item was situated and the lack of any device to protect the worker directly below it from a clear risk of injury raise a factual issue as to whether the object required securing for the purposes of the undertaking… .  Saber v 69th Tenants Corp, 2013 NY Slip Op 04591, 2nd Dept, 6-19-13