A New York appellate court overturned a summary judgment granted to a contractor that failed to remove scattered tools, allowing a worker who tripped on a shovel to sue both his employer and the property owner.
Dalison De Queiroga Oliveira was working for RC Structures when he suffered injuries after tripping on a shovel while working on a construction site at a property owned by the Rockaway Village Housing Development Fund Corp., according to Oliveira v. Rockaway Village Housing Development Fund Corp., published on Oct. 29.
Mr. Oliveira filed suit against Rockaway and Lettire Construction Corp., the general contractor for the project, asserting claims for negligence and violations of the Labor Law; namely alleging violations of Section 200 and Section 241(6) in state law, the former of which is the common-law duty to provide a safe workplace, and the latter, which imposes nondelegable duties on owners, general contractors and their agents to provide for the safety of construction workers.
A Queens County Supreme Court justice granted the defendants’ motion.
The Appellate Division’s 2nd Department overturned. On the Section 241(6) claim, the court stated that the defendants failed to eliminate all triable issues of fact as to whether they violated this provision. The court also said the defendants failed to eliminate all triable issues of fact as to whether the shovel that allegedly caused the accident was an “integral part” of the work Mr. Oliveira was doing.
On the Section 200 claim, the court said since Mr. Oliveira’s accident arose from an allegedly dangerous condition on the premises, not the manner in which the work was performed, the defendants had to prove that they did not have constructive notice of the allegedly dangerous condition that caused the accident.
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