THE DEFENDANT LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES FUNCTIONED AS A SINGLE INTEGRATED UNIT WITH PLAINTIFF’S EMPLOYER; PLAINTIFF’S ONLY REMEDY IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE IS THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW BENEFITS HE APPLIED FOR AND RECEIVED BEFORE BRINGING THIS LABOR LAW 240(1) ACTION (FIRST DEPT). ​

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, over an extensive dissent, determined the corporate entities plaintiff sued in this slip and fall case function as a single integrated entity with plaintiff’s employer, the nursing home where he was injured. Plaintiff had applied for and received Workers’ Compensation benefits and then brought this Labor 240(1) action. The First Department held that plaintiff’s exclusive remedy was Workers’ Compensation:

… [W]e find that Hopkins Ventures has shown ownership of 100% of both KFG Land and KFG Operating and that it exercised complete managerial and financial control over both companies, operating them as if they were a single integrated entity. Since the evidentiary proof submitted by KFG Land was sufficient to make out its prima facie case, that the LLCs functioned as a single integrated entity in connection with the joint venture of acquiring and operating the property and nursing home, the exclusivity provisions of the WCL apply. Plaintiff failed to raise a material issue of fact to defeat defendant’s motion for summary judgment. …

Although the dissent reaches the underlying merits of plaintiff’s cross appeal concerning the dismissal of his Labor Law §240(1) on the basis that he was not engaged in a “repair” or “alteration” within the meaning of Labor Law § 240(1) at the time of his accident, we affirm on the ground that even if plaintiff was engaged in alteration or repair, the exclusivity provisions of the WCL would be his sole remedy since he applied for and received those benefits. Fuller v KFG L & I, LLC, 2020 NY Slip Op 07998, First Dept 12-29-20