Dugandzic v. New York City School Construction Authority

174 Misc. 2d 702, 665 N.Y.S.2d 831, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 531
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 30, 1997
StatusPublished

This text of 174 Misc. 2d 702 (Dugandzic v. New York City School Construction Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dugandzic v. New York City School Construction Authority, 174 Misc. 2d 702, 665 N.Y.S.2d 831, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 531 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Richard A. Goldberg, J.

Plaintiff Mirolsav Dugandzic alleges that, on September 17, 1992, while employed as a painter by G.F. Interiors, Inc., he was injured when he slipped and fell on paint remover he had applied to the floor of a locker room at Fort Hamilton High School.

Dugandzic and his wife commenced this action against defendants alleging negligence in the ownership, operation, management, control and inspection of the premises and violation of "the Labor Laws of the City and State of New York, the Administrative Code of the City of New York, the Federal Occupation Safety and Health Regulations known as OSHA together with the Industrial Code of the State of New York.” In their bill of particulars and supplemental bill of particulars, plaintiffs specifically allege violation of sections 200 and 241 (6) of the Labor Law and violation of section 23-1.7 (d) of the Industrial Code (12 NYCRR) and that defendants failed to provide adequate illumination.

In his deposition, Dugandzic testified that, on the day before the accident, he was directed by his employer’s foreman to pour paint remover on the floor of the locker room and to scrape the floor. He was supplied with a mask, goggles, rubber gloves and tools. He spent approximately six hours on the day [704]*704before the accident removing paint from the locker room floor. He had to walk across the paint remover in order to scrape the floor and he noticed that it was slippery. He was not provided with a cloth or anything else to stand on. He testified that "[t]he light was not so good either.” On the day of the accident, he had been working for approximately two hours when he slipped and fell in an area that he had already scraped.

In his deposition, Hani Arafat, a senior project officer for the New York City School Construction Authority (NYCSCA), testified that the NYCSCA engaged Trataros Construction, Inc., to perform the renovation work being done at Fort Hamilton High School and engaged Crowe Construction Company as construction manager for the work. Arafat visited the school on a daily basis and was "in charge of schedule, time, enforcing the contract’s requirement for construction manager, for the consultants and for the contract,” and would "tour the job to see it was running in a proper manner.” He further testified that if he saw anything unsafe, the NYCSCA had "the power to take it over.” With respect to the work to be performed on the locker room floor, Arafat testified that he told plaintiffs employer to scrape the floor in order to level it for the application of new paint, but the employer said he could not scrape it but would remove the existing paint by using paint remover. He also testified that he did not inspect the locker room where the paint was being removed from the floor "because it’s slippery.”

Plaintiffs filed their note of issue on October 11, 1995.

All the defendants and third-party plaintiffs (the defendants) except the City of New York (the City) now move for summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ complaint and all cross claims against them on the grounds that the proximate cause of Dugandzic’s accident was his performance of his duties as a painter, that defendants had no actual or constructive notice of a dangerous condition and no duty to warn Dugandzic, and that there is no liability under section 241 (6) of the Labor Law, or under section 200 of the Labor Law where the accident is caused by a hazard which is inherent in the work the employee is to perform or where an injury is caused by the method utilized by the employee in the performance of his work. The motion was served on April 17, 1997. The City cross-moves for summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ complaint and all cross claims against it which allege violation of sections 200 and 241 (6) of the Labor Law on the grounds that the City did not control or supervise plaintiff’s work and that plaintiffs [705]*705have failed to allege a violation of an applicable section of the Industrial Code. The cross motion was served on June 19, 1997.

Plaintiffs oppose the motion and cross motion, procedurally on the grounds that they were brought more than 120 days following the filing of the note of issue, because defendants had notice of the slippery condition, because the violation of section 23-1.7 (d) of the Industrial Code was a proximate cause of the accident, and because the defendants maintained supervision and control of Dugandzic’s work. In support of their position, plaintiffs submit the affidavit of Stephen A. Estrin, a safety engineer, who opines that application of the paint remover with rollers rather than with a pure bristle brush, as called for in the manufacturer’s directions, was not in conformity with industry standards and resulted in "an uneven application,” which made the floor excessively slippery. He further opines that Dugandzic should have been provided with plywood sheets to stand on.

Timeliness of the Motion and Cross Motion

Effective January 1, 1997, CPLR 3212 (a), as amended (L 1996, ch 492), provides that "[a]ny party may move for summary judgment in any action, after issue has been joined; provided however, that the court may set a date after which no such motion may be made, such date being no earlier than thirty days after the filing of the note of issue. If no such date is set by the court, such motion shall be made no later than one hundred twenty days after the filing of the note of issue, except with leave of court on good cause shown.”

No appellate court has, as yet, decided the applicability of the amended statute to cases where the note of issue was filed before January 1, 1997. The only officially reported case that addressed the issue held that, the statute being a procedural one that does not affect a substantive right of a party, it should be given retroactive effect, and motions for summary judgment in cases where the note of issue was filed before January 1, 1997 are untimely unless made within 120 days of the date of the filing of the note of issue. (Auger v State of New York, 171 Misc 2d 866 [Ct Cl 1997].) On the other hand, several Supreme Court cases have held that summary judgment motions in such cases are timely if made within 120 days of January 1, 1997. (See, DeJesus v New York City Tr. Auth., 173 Misc 2d 918 [Sup Ct, NY County 1997]; Martinez v Nassau St. Partners, NYLJ, Sept. 4, 1997, at 22, col 5 [Sup Ct, Bronx County]; Moreno v Pilevsky, NYLJ, July 29, 1997, at 22, col 1 [706]*706[Sup Ct, NY County]; Tananbaum v Huntington Hosp., NYLJ, June 2, 1997, at 34, col 3 [Sup Ct, Suffolk County].) These cases rely on the Legislature’s "intent in amending the procedure for summary judgment * * * to prevent the disruption caused by 'eleventh hour motions’.” (Tananbaum v Huntington Hosp., supra, at 34, col 4, quoting Mem of Senate in support of L 1996, ch 492, 1996 McKinney’s Session Laws of NY, at 2433.) This court agrees that this approach "will serve to reduce the transitional effects in motion practice caused by the amendment and preserve the legislative goal of preventing 'disruption to the hearing of cases caused by * * * eleventh hour motions’ ”. (Supra, at 34, col 4.) The motion and cross motion, brought within 120 days of January 1, 1997, are timely.

Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
174 Misc. 2d 702, 665 N.Y.S.2d 831, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dugandzic-v-new-york-city-school-construction-authority-nysupct-1997.