Fiorentino v. Atlas Park LLC

95 A.D.3d 424, 944 N.Y.S.2d 60
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 3, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 95 A.D.3d 424 (Fiorentino v. Atlas Park LLC) 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
Fiorentino v. Atlas Park LLC, 95 A.D.3d 424, 944 N.Y.S.2d 60 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Jeffrey K. Oing, J.), entered April 26, 2011, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted defendants Atlas Park LLC’s (Atlas) and Plaza Construction Corporation’s (Plaza) motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ Labor Law § 200 and common-law negligence claims as against them, granted Atlas’s and Plaza’s motion for summary judgment on their claims for contractual and common-law indemnification against defendant Sage Electrical Contracting, Inc. (Sage) and third-party defendant Donaldson Acoustics, Co. (Donaldson), conditionally, and denied Donaldson’s motion for summary judgment on its claim for common-law indemnification against Sage, unanimously modified, on the law, to the extent of granting Atlas’s and Plaza’s motion as to their contractual indemnification claims against Sage and Donaldson, unconditionally, granting Donaldson’s motion as to its common-law indemnification claim against Sage and denying Atlas’s and Plaza’s motion as to their common-law indemnification claim against Donaldson, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

In this personal injury action, plaintiff seeks damages for injuries he sustained while working on a construction project on April 6, 2006 in the basement of the premises located at 8000 Cooper Avenue in Queens. Defendant Atlas owned the premises and contracted with defendant Plaza as general contractor. Plaza contracted with defendant Sage as an electrical subcontractor on the project and defendant Donaldson, plaintiff’s employer, as a carpentry subcontractor. Donaldson’s foreman supervised plaintiffs work. Plaintiff testified that, while he was working on the project, he never had any contact with anyone from Plaza and he never heard of a company named Atlas.

[425]*425At the time of the accident, plaintiff was standing on a Baker scaffold, approximately three feet from the ground, installing acoustic ceiling tiles into a metal grid. As he was installing an exit sign tile, he noticed a BX cable, an armored electrical cable, dangling from the ceiling. While he had one hand holding the metal ceiling grid, plaintiff grabbed the cable with his other hand to push it back into the ceiling so that he could feed it through the slot that he created in the ceiling tile. As he grabbed the cable, he received an electric shock. He was unable to let go of the cable until his coworker Richie Robbins pushed the scaffold out from under him.

In April 2007, plaintiff and his wife commenced this action against Atlas, Plaza and Sage, by filing a summons and complaint, alleging causes of action based on Labor Law § 240 (1), § 241 (6), § 200 and common-law negligence. Atlas and Plaza answered and asserted cross claims against Sage for contractual indemnification and contribution. Atlas and Plaza also commenced a third-party action against Donaldson. Although the third-party complaint asserted two causes of action based on contractual indemnification, the final paragraph of the third-party complaint demanded judgment against Donaldson for contractual and common-law indemnification.

In July 2010, Atlas and Plaza moved for summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ claims and all cross claims against them, on their cross claims against Sage for contractual and common-law indemnification, attorneys’ fees and costs, and on their third-party claims against Donaldson for contractual indemnification, attorneys’ fees and costs. In August 2010, Sage cross-moved for summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ Labor Law § 240 (1), § 241 (6), § 200 and common-law negligence claims against it, and dismissing codefendants Atlas’s and Plaza’s cross claims for indemnification, and third-party defendant Donaldson’s cross claim for indemnification. In September 2010, Donaldson also cross-moved for summary judgment, dismissing the plaintiffs’ Labor Law § 240 (1) and § 241 (6) claims, as well as Sage’s cross claims for common-law indemnification, and Atlas’s and Plaza’s claims for contractual and common-law indemnification, attorneys’ fees and costs against Sage.

By order entered April 26, 2011, the motion court dismissed the Labor Law § 200 claims as against Atlas and Plaza, finding that they did not have the requisite supervision and control over plaintiff’s work, and granted similar relief to Sage, determining that it was neither an owner nor a general contractor. The court denied that portion of Sage’s motion seeking dismissal of the common-law claims against it. The court denied [426]*426Atlas’s and Plaza’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ Labor Law § 241 (6) claim based upon the violation of 12 NYCRR 23-1.13, but granted that portion of Sage’s cross motion to dismiss the Labor Law § 241 (6) claim.

As to the indemnification issues, the court conditionally granted Atlas’s and Plaza’s motion as to contractual and common-law indemnification against Sage and Donaldson, pending a finding of negligence. Reasoning that factual issues remained, the court denied Sage’s cross motion to dismiss Atlas’s, Plaza’s and Donaldson’s cross claims for indemnification and Donaldson’s cross motion for common-law indemnification against Sage.

We reject Atlas’s and Plaza’s argument that Sage has no right to appeal from the part of the order that granted their motion for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 200 and common-law negligence claims as against them. Sage is aggrieved by that determination (see CPLR 5511) insofar as it precludes Sage from asserting claims for indemnification or contribution against Atlas and Plaza (see Urbina v 26 Ct. St. Assoc., LLC, 12 AD3d 225 [2004]).

In any event, an owner or general contractor will not be liable under Labor Law § 200 for injuries that arise out of the manner or method of work unless it had the authority to supervise or control that work (see Rizzuto v L.A. Wenger Contr. Co., 91 NY2d 343, 352 [1998]; Urban v No. 5 Times Sq. Dev., LLC, 62 AD3d 553, 556 [2009]). Contrary to Sage’s argument, that Plaza or its site safety inspector had the authority to stop the work if he observed a subcontractor engaging in an unsafe activity is insufficient to establish the requisite supervision or control (see Hughes v Tishman Constr. Corp., 40 AD3d 305 [2007]). That Plaza expedited the work does not establish that it supervised and controlled the manner in which the work was performed (see Foley v Consolidated Edison Co. of N.Y., Inc., 84 AD3d 476, 477 [2011]).

Because the Labor Law § 200 and common-law negligence claims (as well as the Labor Law § 240 [1] claim) were dismissed against them, Atlas’s and Plaza’s only liability, if any, would be vicarious under Labor Law § 241 (6). Accordingly, they are entitled to enforce the indemnification provisions in their contracts with Sage and Donaldson (see Macedo v J.D. Posillico, Inc., 68 AD3d 508, 510-511 [2009]).

These contracts provide that Sage and Donaldson will indemnify Atlas and Plaza for “[a]ny accident or occurrence which happens, or is alleged to have happened, in or about the place where such Work is being performed or in the vicinity [427]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 A.D.3d 424, 944 N.Y.S.2d 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fiorentino-v-atlas-park-llc-nyappdiv-2012.