Personal Injury Attorneys - Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and the Bronx

Thanksgiving Week brought two Court of Appeals decisions declining to apply the strict liability of New York State Labor Law 240(1) and 241(6). In the first case the Court held that these Labor Law sections are pre-empted by section 905(b) of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA). In the second case the Court held that the defendants homeowners did not exercise sufficient direction and control over plaintiff's work to overcome the one or two-family dwelling exception found in Labor Law 240 and 241. The first case is discussed in this blog post; the second will be discussed in Part 2 of this blog entry. The LHWCA case, Lee v. Astoria Generating Co., L.P., --- N.E.2d ----, 2009 WL 4016121 (November 23, 2009), involved bodily injuries sustained by an employee of a company retained to perform an overhaul of gas turbine generating units situated on four barges stationed afloat on navigable wat

In 720-730 Fort Washington Ave. Owners Corp. v. Utica First Ins. Co., --- N.Y.S.2d ----, 2009 WL 3645656 (N.Y.Sup. 2009), an insurance policy was purchased to protect against injuries sustained by workers injured during roofing work. Somehow, the policy included three exclusions: an employee exclusion, an exclusion for roofing work, and an exclusion for any liabilities assumed under contract or agreement. Sure enough, during the construction work, an accident occurred in which an employee of the subcontractor was injured when a concrete block allegedly fell on him. The insurance company disclaimed coverage based upon the three exclusions and the building owner commenced a declaratory judgment action. The defendant insurer moved for summary judgment, dismissal of the plaintiffs complaint and a declaration that it has no duty to defend or

On March 12, 2008, the basement foundation wall of a two-story wood-frame residential building located at 795 Glenmore Avenue in Brooklyn collapsed into the construction site on the adjoining parcel at 793 and 791 Glenmore Avenue, causing the death of a construction worker who was working in the excavation site at the time of the collapse. The laborers were digging out the soil for the foundations and underpinnings when the wall collapsed. The owner of both the building and the construction site, William Lattarulo, stands charged with manslaughter in the second degree and reckless endangerment in the second degree. The defendant's Dunaway /Huntley/Mapp motions to suppress statements, five oral and one audiotaped, that he made before his arrest and the physical evidence recovered in his garage and home was denied after an evidentiary hearing was held at the Supreme Court, Kings Cou

The Manhattan District Attorney on October 1, 2009 announced the indictment and arrest of 29 people and four corporations for enterprise corruption, bribery, bribe receiving, extortion, narcotics and firearms trafficking, and illegal gambling. Among the individual defendants are members and associates of the Cosa Nostra Lucchese Organized Crime Family (Lucchese Crime Family), including three inspectors formerly employed by the New York City Department of Buildings and two members of the Family ruling panel; three other former building inspectors; and individuals and companies in the construction and real estate industry. The District Attorney accused the mob of seeking to place associates in a government agency and influence the routine functions of that agency. The Mobs infiltration to supervisory positions within the Building Department is one thing that distinguishes this Tagged with: Construction Accidents Workplace Injury Construction Accident Labor Law Crane

In Cherry v. Time Warner, Inc., --- N.Y.S.2d ----, 2009 WL 2497974 (1 Dept. August 18, 2009), the plaintiff was securing sheet rock to the ceiling on the third floor when he fell off a baker's scaffold onto the concrete floor eight feet below. The scaffold measuring approximately two feet wide by six to eight feet long had guardrails on only two of its four sides. The Appellate Division, First Department was called upon to decide whether safety guardrails were in place on the scaffold from which the plaintiff fell, and if they were not in place, whether they were made readily available on site for the plaintiff's use. This issue was crucial because if the guardrails were found to be readily available, the workers failure to use a scaffold having guardrails on all four sides of it would be considered the sole proximate cause of the accident. As such, the worker would not be entitled to the protections of Labor Law 240(1).

Sidewalk sheds are typically wooden structures (nowadays usually painted blue) built over public space to protect pedestrians during construction activity. Walking around Manhattan while trying to avoid walking under a sidewalk shed can be a true challenge. There are currently more than 6,000 sidewalk sheds installed and in use today at New York Citys buildings and construction sites, spanning more than 1,000,000 linear feet. A lawyer for insurance companies once told me that because he has defended so many cases in which a pedestrian or construction worker was injured due to a collapse or other calamity involving a sidewalk shed, he would never, ever walk under one. Besides, theyre hideous-looking. On August 13, 2009, the Department of Buildings and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects launched the urbanSHED International Design Competition - a competition to tap the global design community to develop the sidewalk shed of the future.

The N.Y.C. Department of Buildings has suspended the license of Master Electrician Robert Spallinos and fined him $100,000 after determining he installed cheap, illegal wooden parts, instead of the metal, insulated collars required by the Electrical Code, inside the electrical systems of five high-rise hotels in midtown Manhattan. It wasn't an accident - Spallino even painted his wooden "carvings" black in a bid to fool inspectors into thinking they were made of fireproof metal, according to Department of Buildings documents. He used homemade wooden collars to rig wires together -- a potentially deadly fire hazard. The city building code requires that wires pass through a fireproof conduit made of metal collars between floors. The actions taken against Spallino were led by the Departments Special Enforcement Team, a unit of attorneys, plan examiners, inspectors and support staff that identifies professionals, building owners and contractors who blatantly disregard

In Alexander v. Hart, --- N.Y.S.2d ----, 2009 WL 1955556, 2009 N.Y. Slip Op. 05716 (N.Y.A.D. 3 Dept., 2009) the plaintiff, a service technician, fell while working on a rooftop heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit at defendants' fitness center on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in Franklin County. The defendants moved to dismiss the plaintiffs Labor Law 240(1) and 241(6) claims on the ground that these construction worker safety statutes do not apply on the grounds that (1) the statutes do not apply to accidents that occur on an Indian reservation, (2) since the tribe is the title owner of the land, the individual and corporate defendants are not owners within the meaning of the Labor Law statutes, (3) the plaintiff was engaged in repair work that is not an activity covered by Labor Law 240(1), (4) the plaintiffs work was

Last year, there were two fatal in New York City, as well as dozens of others throughout the country, including Houston, Las Vegas and MiamiIn an effort to track equipment failures, manufacturers recalls, accidents and industry trends, the New York City Buildings Department recently announced an unprecedented partnership with the cities of Chicago and Philadelphia to share critical data on tower cranes erected within their borders. At present, there are more than 50 active tower cranes in New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia. Under the information-sharing agreement, building officials will share information about the design and operation of active tower cranes, as well as other important details, such as crane equipment failures, manufacturer recalls, operational trends and Tagged with: Construction Accidents Workplace Injury Construction Accident Crane

An employee who claims to have suffered injuries proximately caused by a previously identified and unremedied structural defect or unsafe condition affecting an item of power-operated heavy equipment or machinery has stated a cause of action under Labor Law 241(6) based on an alleged violation of 12 NYCRR 23-9.2(a), held the Court of Appeals in Misicki v. Caradonna, --- N.E.2d ----, 2009 WL 1286012 (N.Y.), 2009 N.Y. Slip Op. 03764 (May 12, 2009). The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, had been the only one of the four Appellate Divisions to rule that a violation of the rule and regulation promulgated by the Commissioner of the Department of Labor regarding the maintenance of Power-0perated Heavy Equipment or Machinery invoked the protections of Labor Law 241(6). The Court of Appeals, however, recently held that it was the Fourth Departmen