PLAINTIFF ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER PLYWOOD FELL WHILE HOISTED OR DURING INSTALLATION.
The Second Department determined plaintiff was properly awarded summary judgment on his Labor Law 240(1) cause of action irrespective of whether the plywood which struck him fell when it was being hoisted or when workers were about to install it:
The single decisive question in determining whether Labor Law § 240(1) is applicable is whether the plaintiff’s injuries were the direct consequence of a failure to provide adequate protection against a risk arising from a physically significant elevation differential … . “[F]alling object” liability under Labor Law § 240(1) is not limited to cases in which the falling object is in the process of being hoisted or secured … but also where the plaintiff demonstrates that, at the time the object fell, it “required securing for the purposes of the undertaking” … .
Here, the plaintiff established his prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting evidence demonstrating that the defendant failed to provide an adequate safety device to protect him and that this failure was a proximate cause of his injuries. This is so whether the sheet of plywood fell as it was being hoisted because it was not properly secured while it was being pulled up to the roof, as testified to by the plaintiff … , or whether the sheet of plywood fell from the hands of the plaintiff’s coworkers on the roof as it was being installed or about to be installed due to a failure to secure it, a theory advanced by the defendant … . Escobar v Safi, 2017 NY Slip Op 04099, 2nd Dept 5-24-17
LABOR LAW-CONSTRUCTION LAW (PLAINTIFF ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER PLYWOOD FELL WHILE HOISTED OR DURING INSTALLATION)/FALLING OBJECTS (LABOR LAW-CONSTRUCTION LAW, PLAINTIFF ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER PLYWOOD FELL WHILE HOISTED OR DURING INSTALLATION)