Cavanaugh v. 4518 Associates

9 A.D.3d 14, 776 N.Y.S.2d 260, 2004 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6689
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 11, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 9 A.D.3d 14 (Cavanaugh v. 4518 Associates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cavanaugh v. 4518 Associates, 9 A.D.3d 14, 776 N.Y.S.2d 260, 2004 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6689 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Sullivan, J.

This is an appeal from the grant of a postverdict motion for contractual indemnification in favor of a tortfeasor found 70% at fault for the accident causing plaintiffs injuries against another tortfeasor, a third-party defendant, found 30% at fault. The sole issue presented is whether such an award violates General Obligations Law § 5-322.1.

Plaintiff was injured in an accident on February 2, 1998 during the course of an interior renovation in a building located at 620 Sixth Avenue in New York City when the scaffold on which he was working as a taper for Parwall Interiors, Inc. began to shift and fall forward, causing him to fall off the scaffold into a dumpster. 4518 Associates was the owner of the building, which was managed by Tishman Speyer Properties. Ambassador Construction Co., Inc., the general contractor for the renovation, had subcontracted the carpentry work to S&H Carpentry, which in turn, hired plaintiffs employer Parwall to perform the taping work. Plaintiff sued 4518 Associates, Tishman Speyer, Ambassador, S&H and another entity to recover for his injuries, alleging a violation of several provisions of the Labor Law, including section 240. Ambassador cross-claimed against S&H alleging the latter’s negligence as the cause of plaintiffs injuries and also asserting that S&H would be liable to it “in the event and in the full amount of a recovery herein by the plaintiff or alternatively, for that portion thereof cause [d] by the relative responsibility of the defendant . . . S&H.” S&H impleaded plaintiffs employer, Parwall.

Before trial, plaintiff, on the basis of Labor Law § 240 (1), moved for summary judgment against 4518 Associates, Tish[16]*16man Speyer and Ambassador, none of which opposed the motion. Supreme Court awarded plaintiff partial summary judgment on liability; it also granted Tishman Speyer summary judgment on its claim for contractual indemnification against Ambassador, holding that the latter’s project manager and its project supervisor “had duties which included supervision of the various subcontractors and supervision of the laborers.”

The court denied Ambassador’s summary judgment motion for contractual indemnification against S&H, in opposition to which S&H argued, inter alia, that Ambassador was actively negligent, holding that there was a “legitimate issue” as to whether the proper assembly of the scaffold was part of Ambassador’s safety inspection responsibility. Finding insufficient information to resolve the issue, the court denied that part of Ambassador’s motion based on S&H’s breach of its contractual obligation to procure liability insurance naming Ambassador as an additional insured. Thereafter, at trial, in the midst of plaintiff’s testimony, he discontinued his action against S&H. Ambassador’s cross claim against S&H was converted to a third-party action.

The trial evidence showed that Ambassador contracted with S&H to install drywall partitions. As noted, S&H, in turn, subcontracted the taping of the partitions, work it had contracted to do, to Parwall. Plaintiff, the only Parwall worker at the site at the time, testified that his supervisor told him to use the scaffold in question, which was approximately six feet in height, that it had wheels but that its locks were not working and that he had complained to his foreman about this. Ambassador, the general contractor, had the responsibility “for exercising regulatory control over all subcontractors.” It would schedule the work for the various trades; one of its representatives called S&H and asked that the tapers be sent to the site. Ambassador also held safety meetings and, as its project manager testified, if he saw an unsafe condition, he would stop the work. Since safety was part of Ambassador’s inspections, its inspections would include the “pre-assembly of scaffolds” used by tapers. When Ambassador’s project manager arrived at the accident scene he observed a baker’s scaffold (presumably one on wheels) but it did not belong to Ambassador.

At the time of the accident, no one in a supervisory capacity from S&H, which was required to inspect the taping work but was not at the site every day, was present at the building. S&H also had the authority to stop the work if it observed an unsafe [17]*17condition, although Ambassador was primarily responsible for safety conditions at the job site. No one from S&H would direct Parwall’s workers as to how they performed their work; it merely outlined the work that needed to be completed. S&H did not provide Parwall with any scaffolding; nor did it have any scaffolding at the site on the day of the accident.

At the conclusion of testimony, the trial court denied Ambassador’s motion for a directed verdict on its breach of contract claim against S&H. The court reserved decision on the latter’s motion for a dismissal of Ambassador’s claims against it. In its jury charge, the court posed as the first issue for resolution the respective degree of fault of Ambassador and S&H. The court instructed the jurors that the general contractor and subcontractor had a duty to use reasonable care to make the workplaces under their control reasonably safe. If they did exercise control over a workplace, they were required to correct any unsafe condition that was known. If they exercised control, they were to conduct reasonable inspections to detect the existence of an unsafe condition. The court told the jury that as a general contractor Ambassador “owes a duty to make safe a place of work provided by it.” The second issue for the jury’s consideration was the amount of damages to be awarded to plaintiff.

The jury returned a verdict of $500,000 in plaintiff’s favor against Ambassador and S&H, the only party defendants remaining in the case, apportioning the award 70% against Ambassador and 30% against S&H. Despite S&H’s opposition on the ground that such indemnification would violate the General Obligations Law, the court subsequently granted so much of Ambassador’s posttrial motion as sought contractual indemnification against S&H for the full amount of the jury award for the reason that because the Ambassador/S&H agreement contained an indemnification agreement and an insurance procurement provision “any finding of negligence on Ambassador’s part in connection with” plaintiffs injuries was “totally irrelevant.” Judgment to this effect was subsequently entered. S&H appeals from the order granting Ambassador’s motion for contractual indemnification against it. Deeming its appeal as being from that part of the judgment that awards Ambassador contractual indemnification against it, we reverse.

Paragraph 6, as set forth in a purchase order, dated December 4, 1997, which constitutes the subcontract in question between Ambassador and S&H, provides that, “[t]o the fullest extent permitted by law,” S&H shall “indemnify and hold harmless” [18]*18Ambassador against “all claims, damages, losses, and expenses, including, but not limited to attorneys fees, arising out of or resulting from the performance of the [w]ork” attributable to bodily injury or to property damage and, caused, in whole or in part, by any negligent act or omission of S&H, “regardless of whether or not it is caused in part by a party indemnified hereunder.”

This agreement runs afoul of General Obligations Law § 5-322.1 (1), which, in pertinent part, provides:

“A covenant, promise, agreement or understanding in, or in connection with ...

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Bluebook (online)
9 A.D.3d 14, 776 N.Y.S.2d 260, 2004 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cavanaugh-v-4518-associates-nyappdiv-2004.