Contract Between Town and Employer of Injured Employee Did Not Allow Indemnification of Town by Employer

In a Labor Law action seeking damages for a fall from the roof of a building under construction, the Fourth Department determined Supreme Court should have dismissed the town’s motion for contractual indemnification against plaintiff’s employer because the contract was not intended to be retroactive to the day of the injury.  The Fourth Department explained the applicable law as follows:

“Workers’ Compensation Law § 11 prohibits a third-party action against an employer unless the plaintiff sustained a grave injury or there is ‘a written contract entered into prior to the accident or occurrence by which the employer had expressly agreed to contribution or indemnification of the [third party plaintiff]’ ”… .  The Town concedes that plaintiff did not suffer a “grave injury,” and that it is entitled to indemnification only if it can demonstrate the existence of a written contract.  “When a party is under no legal duty to indemnify, a contract assuming that obligation must be strictly construed to avoid reading into it a duty which the parties did not intend to be assumed” … .  Meabon v Town of Poland…, 634, 4th Dept 7-19-13