PLAINTIFF PULLED A LOAD OF WASTE BACKWARDS THROUGH AN ACCESS DOOR APPARENTLY EXPECTING THE LIFT TO BE POSITIONED OUTSIDE THE DOOR; THE LIFT HAD MOVED TO A DIFFERENT FLOOR AND PLAINTIFF FELL FROM THE THIRD FLOOR TO THE GROUND; THE ACCESS DOOR WAS SUPPOSED TO BE LOCKED BEFORE THE LIFT MOVED TO A DIFFERENT FLOOR; PLAINTIFF WAS ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THE LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION BECAUSE THE ACCESS DOOR LOCK, A SAFETY DEVICE, WAS MISSING (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law 240(1) cause of action. Plaintiff pulled a load of waste backwards through an access door which did not have a lock and then fell from the third floor because the lift which he (apparently) assumed was positioned outside the access door had moved to a different floor. Each access door was supposed to have a lock and the lift operator was supposed to lock the door before moving to a different floor:

Plaintiff met his burden of establishing the absence of an adequate safety device that could have prevented his fall, namely, a lock on the third-floor access door … .. In opposition, defendants failed to raise a triable issue of fact whether plaintiff’s own negligence was the sole proximate cause of his injuries … . Here, there is no evidence in the record that plaintiff removed the lock and was therefore the sole proximate cause of the accident … . Moreover, even assuming, arguendo, that plaintiff was negligent in walking backwards out the access door and in failing to look back prior to going through the door to ensure the lift was there, we conclude that such “actions [would] render him [merely] contributorily negligent, a defense unavailable under [Labor Law § 240 (1)]” … . Hyde v BVSHSSF Syracuse LLC, 2022 NY Slip Op 07329, Fourth Dept 12-23-22

Practice Point: Even though plaintiff may have been contributorily negligent in not looking behind him as he pulled a load of waste through an access door, contributory negligence is not a defense to a Labor Law 240(1) cause of action.