Worker Struck by Falling Brick Entitled to Summary Judgment/Comparative Negligence Is Not a Defense to a Labor Law 240(1) Claim

The First Department determined that summary judgment pursuant to Labor Law 240(1) was properly granted to a worker struck by a falling brick.  The court noted that comparative negligence is not a defense to a Labor Law 240(1) action:

Plaintiff established his entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability on his Labor Law § 240(1) claim by submitting, among other things, his testimony that he was performing his assigned work of cleaning debris from the ground level, just outside the north side of the subject building under construction, when he was suddenly struck by a falling brick, in the absence of any overhead netting or other such protective devices … . Defendants’ witnesses further established their liability by confirming that the brick fell out of the hands of a masonry worker several stories above plaintiff, and that safety netting which had been installed on other sides of the building was absent from the north exterior. The lack of overhead protective devices was a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries under any of the conflicting accounts …, and plaintiff’s comparative negligence is not a defense to a Labor Law § 240(1) claim… . Hill v Acies Group LLC, 2014 NY Slip Op 07601, 2nd Dept 11-6-14