Carvalho v. Lotus Residence LLC

2025 NY Slip Op 31764(U)
CourtNew York Supreme Court, Kings County
DecidedMay 14, 2025
DocketIndex No. 523886/2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2025 NY Slip Op 31764(U) (Carvalho v. Lotus Residence LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court, Kings County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carvalho v. Lotus Residence LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op 31764(U) (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2025).

Opinion

Carvalho v Lotus Residence LLC 2025 NY Slip Op 31764(U) May 14, 2025 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: Index No. 523886/2020 Judge: Steven Z. Mostofsky Cases posted with a "30000" identifier, i.e., 2013 NY Slip Op 30001(U), are republished from various New York State and local government sources, including the New York State Unified Court System's eCourts Service. This opinion is uncorrected and not selected for official publication. WILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 05/ 14/ 202 INDEX NO. 5238 86/2 020 5 01: 30 pij NYSCEF DOC. NO. 133 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/1 4/20 25

At an IAS Term, Part 9, of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, held in and for the Coun ty of Kings, at the Courthouse, at 360 Adam s Street, Brooklyn, New York on the 14th Day of May, 2025.

PRE S ENT : HON . STEV EN Z. MOS TOF SKY , Justice. ---------------- ------ --- --- ------ --- --- ------ ------ ------ -X VINI CIUS COU TO CAR VAL HO,

Plaintiff,

-against- Inde x No.: 523886/2020

LOTUS RES IDEN CE LLC AND RIVE RSID E DEV ELO PER S USA INC. ,

Defe ndan ts. ------------------------------------- ------ --- ------ --- --- -X

The following e-filed papers read herein: NYS CEF Doc Nos.: Notice of Moti on/O rder to Show Cause/ I Petition/Cross Motion and Affidavits (Affirmations) Anne xed Opposing Affid avits (Affirmations)- ----- 72-131 _ _ _ __ 103-121 Affid avits / Affirmations in Reply_ _ _ _ __ Exhibits 126-128 --------------- Var.

Vinicius Cout o Carvalho ("pla intiff ') commenced an action against defen dants , Lotus Residences LLC ("Lotus"), and Riverside Developer s USA Inc., ("Riverside"), alleging that defen dants violated Labo r Law § 240(1 ), and § 241 (6). I Defe ndan ts, Lotus and Riverside, cross-move, seeki ng summary judg ment dismissing plaintiff's complaint that they violated Labo r Law § 240(1), § 241(6), and § 200.

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Statement of Facts On September 6th, 2019, plaintiff alleges that while emplo yed by Magellan Concrete Structures Inc., ("Magellan"), he sustained injuries as a result of slipping and falling down a portable wood en ladde r while going from the first floor to the basement. Lotus was the owner of the worksite, 3 78 Flushing A venue, Brooklyn, New York, and the general contractor onsite was Riverside. Plaintiff was employed by Magellan as a gener al carpe nter setting up decks and staircases, as well as working with cement. Plaintiff allege s that the ladde r was maintained in a wet and slippery condition due to rain on the day of the alleged incident. After the alleged incident, plaintiff was taken to Wood ull Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York.

Legal Standard '"[S]ummary judgm ent is a drastic remedy and should not be granted where there is any doubt as to the existence of a triable issue"' (Rotuba Extru ders, Inc v Ceppos, 46 NY2d 223, 231 [1978], quoting Moskowitz v Garlock, 23 AD2d 943 [3rd Dept 1965]). "[T]he proponent of a summary judgment motion must make a prima facie show ing of entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, tendering sufficient evidence to demonstrat e the absence of any material issues of fact" (Alvarez v Prospect Hospital, 68 NY2d 320,3 24 [1986 ], citing Winegrad v New York Univ Med Center, 64 NY2 d 851 [1985]) and "facts must be viewe d 'in the light most favorable to the non-moving party "' (Vega v Restani Const Corp, 18 NY3 d 499, 503 [2012]). The court's function is to determine "material triable issues of fact (or point to the lack thereof)" (Vega v Restani Const Corp, 18 NY3 d at 505).

Labor Law § 240(1) Labor Law§ 240(1), which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:: "All contractors and owners and their agents ... who contr act for but do not direct or control the work, in the erection, demolition, repairing, [or] altering ... of a building or structure shall furnish or erect, or cause to be furnished or erected for the performance of such labor, scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hange rs, blocks, pulleys, braces, 2

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irons, ropes, and other devices which shall be so constructed , placed and operated as to give proper protection to a person so employed." I It is, by now, well established that the duty imposed by Labo r Law§ 240(1) is non- delegable and that an owne r or contractor who breaches that duty may be held liable for damages regardless of wheth er it has exercised supervision or contr ol over the work (Ross v Curtis- Palmer Hydro-Electric Co., 81 NY2d 494, 500 [1993 ]). The purpose of Labo r Law §240(1) is to protect construction workers "from the pronounced risks arising from construction work site elevation differentials" (Runner v New York Stock Exch., Inc., 13 NY3 d 599, 603 [2009]). The worker's injuries have to be a direct consequence of failur e to adequately protect against risk arising from physically significant elevation differential (Id.). In other words, Labor Law § 240(1) was designed to prevent those types of accidents in which the scaffold, hoist, stay, ladder, or other protective device proved inadequate to shield the injured worker from harm directly flowing from the application of the force of gravity to an object or person (Ross v Curtis-Palmer Hydro-Electric Co., 81 NY2d 494,5 01 [1993]). The right ofrec overy affor ded by the statute does not extend to other types of harm, even if the harm in question was caused by an inadequate, malfunctioning, or defectively designed scaffo ld, stay, or hoist (Id.). Whether a device provides proper protection is a question of fact, except when the device collapses, moves, falls, or otherwise fails to support the plaintiff and his or her materials (Melchor v Singh, 90 AD3 d 866, 868 [2d Dept 2011]). A fall from a ladder, by itself, is not sufficient to impose liability unde r Labor Law § 240 (1) (Id.). There must be evidence that the subject ladde r was defective or inadequately secured and that the defect, or the failure to secure the ladder, was a substantial facto r in causing the plaintiff's injuries (Id.). Plain tiff was engaged in one of the enumerated activities I unde r Labor Law 240(1 ), as he was performing construction work while on a ladder. Plain tiff's accident was gravity related as he fell from a height from the second or third rung of the ladder, which was approximately ten 3

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(10) feet (NYSCEF Doc. No. 96 at p. 2). Plaintiff allege s that his injuries were sustained as a direct result of failing to provide adequate protection again st the risk of falling from the ladder, which became slippery and dirty from the rain (NYSCEF Doc. No. 111 at p. 45-46). In Milligan v Tutor Perini Corp., 191 AD3 d 437 [1st Dept 2021], the court held that plaintiff established prima facie that plaintiff's work expos ed him to an elevation-related risk against which defen dants failed to provide him with prope r prote ction, as required by Labor Law § 240(1 ). Plain tiff testified that he was injured when he fell while using a wet and slippery wooden ladde r provided by defen dants for him to move betwe en the tenth and eleventh floors of the construction site to perform his work (Id.). Therefore, I Plain tiff was not required to show that the ladde r was inherently defec tive (Id.; see McCarthy v Turner Constr., Inc., 52 AD3 d 333 [1st Dept 2008]).

Plain tiff established that he was going from the first floor to the basement using a wood en ladde r (NYS CEF Doc. No. 111 at p.

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Bluebook (online)
2025 NY Slip Op 31764(U), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carvalho-v-lotus-residence-llc-nysupctkings-2025.