The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant landowners were entitled to summary judgment dismissing the common law negligence complaint brought by a worker injured constructing a gazebo in the landowners’ backyard. The court explained that the defendant had properly addressed and negated both theories of liability raised in the complaint, i.e. liability stemming from supervision of the work and liability stemming from a dangerous condition:
Landowners and general contractors have a common-law duty to provide workers with a reasonably safe place to work … . To be held liable for common-law negligence for injuries arising from the manner in which work is performed, a defendant must have authority to exercise supervision and control over the means and methods of the plaintiff’s work … . Where a plaintiff’s injuries arise not from the manner in which the work was performed, but from a dangerous condition on the premises, a defendant may be liable for common-law negligence if it ” either created the dangerous condition that caused the accident or had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition'” … . When an accident is alleged to involve defects in both the premises and the equipment used at the work site, a defendant moving for summary judgment with respect to causes of action alleging common-law negligence is obligated to address the proof applicable to both liability standards … . A defendant moving for summary judgment in such a case may prevail “only when the evidence exonerates it as a matter of law for all potential concurrent causes of the plaintiff’s accident and injury, and when no triable issue of fact is raised in opposition as to either relevant liability standard” … . Wejs v Heinbockel, 2016 NY Slip Op 05989, 2nd Dept 9-14-16
NEGLIGENCE (LANDOWNERS NEGATED BOTH POTENTIAL THEORIES OF LIABILITY FOR INJURIES TO WORKER, SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED)/EVIDENCE (NEGLIGENCE, SUMMARY JUDGMENT, LANDOWNERS NEGATED BOTH POTENTIAL THEORIES OF LIABILITY FOR INJURIES TO WORKER, SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED)