The First Department determined summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s Labor Law 240(1) cause of action was properly granted. Plaintiff was cutting a steel beam when it sprang up, striking him in the face. The event was not related to the force of gravity:
The Labor Law § 240(1) claim was correctly dismissed, because the record demonstrates that plaintiff’s injuries were not the result of a failure to provide proper protection against “the application of the force of gravity to an object or person” … , but rather the result of the propulsion of the vertical beam upward by “the kinetic energy of the sudden release of tensile stress in the [beam]” … . Quishpi v 80 WEA Owner, LLC, 2016 NY Slip Op 08324, 1st Dept 12-13-16
LABOR LAW-CONSTRUCTION LAW (LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION PROPERLY DISMISSED, EVENT NOT RELATED TO THE FORCE OF GRAVITY)