Gordon v. Tishman Construction Corp.

264 A.D.2d 499, 694 N.Y.S.2d 719, 1999 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8917
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedAugust 30, 1999
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 264 A.D.2d 499 (Gordon v. Tishman Construction Corp.) 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
Gordon v. Tishman Construction Corp., 264 A.D.2d 499, 694 N.Y.S.2d 719, 1999 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8917 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., (1) the defendants third-party plaintiffs Tishman Construction Corp. and Upper Fifth Avenue Residential Associates, L.P. appeal, as limited by their brief, from stated portions of (a) a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Johnson, J.), dated March 19, 1998, as, upon a prior order of the same court (I. Aronin, J.), dated September 3, 1996, inter alia, granting summary judgment on the issue of liability under Labor Law § 240 to the plaintiffs and against them, and, in effect, denying that branch of their cross motion which was for summary judgment on the cause of action for common-law indemnification asserted in the third-party complaint, and upon a jury verdict as to damages, is in favor of the plaintiffs and against them, (b) an order of the same court (I. Aronin, J.), dated May 29, 1998, as, upon granting reargument of that branch of the prior cross motion as was for summary judgment on the cause of action for common-law indemnification asserted in the third-party complaint, adhered to the original determination, and (c) an amended judgment of the same court (Johnson, J.), dated June 10, 1998, as, upon, inter alia, an order of the same court dated June 2, 1998, denying that branch of the cross motion of the third-party defendant D&M Construction and Developing, Incorporated, which was to apply a discount rate of 6.03% to the awards of future damages [500]*500in excess of $250,000, is in favor of the plaintiff Doorly Gordon and against them in certain principal sums, and (2) the third-party defendant D&M Construction and Developing, Incorporated, appeals, as limited by its brief, from (a) stated portions of the judgment dated March 19, 1998, and (b) so much of the amended judgment dated June 10, 1998, as is in favor of the plaintiff Doorly Gordon, and applies a discount rate of 5% to the awards of future damages in excess of $250,000. The plaintiffs cross-appeal from stated portions of the judgment dated March 19, 1998.

Ordered that the plaintiffs’ cross appeal from stated portions of the judgment dated March 19, 1998, is dismissed for failure to perfect the same in accordance with the rules of this Court (see, 22 NYCRR 670.8 [c]); and it is further,

Ordered that the appeals of Tishman Construction Corp. and Upper Fifth Avenue Residential Associates, L.P., and D&M Construction and Developing, Incorporated, from stated portions of the judgment dated March 19, 1998, are dismissed, as that judgment was superseded by the amended judgment dated June 10, 1998; and it is further,

Ordered that the appeal from the order dated May 29, 1998, is dismissed; and it is further,

Ordered that the amended judgment dated June 10, 1998, is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law,

(a) the words “to the plaintiffs” and subparagraphs 1, 2, and 3 are deleted from the 1st decretal paragraph thereof;

(b) the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th decretal paragraphs thereof are deleted;

(c) all words following “ORDERED ADJUDGED AND DECREED” up to and including the words “a total judgment of $1,432,317.02” are deleted from the 10th decretal paragraph thereof;

(d) the words “common-law and” are added to the 11th decretal paragraph thereof, after the words “have judgment in”;

(e) the words “of the plaintiffs” are deleted from the 12th decretal paragraph thereof and the words “of the plaintiff Rose-let Gordon” are substituted therefor;

(f) a decretal paragraph severing the claims of the plaintiff Doorly Gordon is added thereto; and

the judgment dated March 13, 1998, is vacated; that branch of the cross motion of the defendants third-party plaintiffs which was for summary judgment on the cause of action in the third-party complaint for common-law indemnification against the [501]*501third-party defendant D&M Construction and Developing, Incorporated, is granted, and the orders dated September 3, 1996, and May 29, 1998, are amended accordingly; so much of the order dated June 2, 1998, as denied that branch of the cross motion by the third party defendant D&M Construction and Developing, Incorporated, to apply a discount rate of 6.03% to the judgment on damages is vacated, that branch of the cross motion is granted, and a new trial is granted on the issue of damages as to the plaintiff Doorly Gordon, to which the discount rate of 6.03% is to be applied to the awards of future damages in excess of $250,000, with costs to abide the event.

The appeal from the intermediate order dated May 29, 1998, must be dismissed because the right of direct appeal therefrom terminated with the entry of judgment in the action (see, Matter of Aho, 39 NY2d 241, 248). The issues raised on appeal from the order are brought up for review and have been considered on the appeal from the amended judgment (see, CPLR 5501 [a] [1]).

In 1988 the plaintiff Doorly Gordon was using a stud gun to attach tracks to a ceiling. He allegedly sustained injuries when a bench/platform upon which he was working collapsed and he fell. At the time of the incident, he was employed by the third-party defendant D&M Construction and Developing, Incorporated (hereinafter D&M), which had supplied the bench/ platform. The building in which he was working was owned by the defendant third-party plaintiff Upper Fifth Avenue Residential Associates, L.P. (hereinafter Upper Fifth Avenue). The general contractor on the project was the defendant third-party plaintiff Tishman Construction Corp. (hereinafter Tishman). Doorly Gordon and his wife (the plaintiff Roselet Gordon) thereafter commenced this action to recover damages pursuant to, inter alia, Labor Law § 240. After issue was joined and various disclosure completed, the Supreme Court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability. The court at that time granted that branch of the cross motion of Tishman and Upper Fifth Avenue which was for summary judgment on the cause of action in the third-party complaint for contractual indemnification from D&M, and, in effect, denied that branch of the cross motion which was for summary judgment on their claim against D&M for common-law indemnification. After a jury trial, the plaintiffs were awarded various damages. Tishman, Upper Fifth Avenue, and D&M now appeal.

Contrary to the appellants’ arguments on appeal, Doorly Gordon’s uncontradicted deposition testimony sufficiently [502]*502established prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability pursuant to Labor Law § 240. Thus, as the appellants failed to raise a triable issue of fact in opposition thereto, the Supreme Court did not err in granting the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability (see, Young Soo Park v Jay St. Realty Assocs., 249 AD2d 300; Kinsler v Lu-Four Assocs., 215 AD2d 631; Lopez v 36-2nd J Corp., 211 AD2d 667; Madden v Trustees of Duryea Presbyt. Church, 210 AD2d 382). However, on their cross motion for summary judgment on the third-party complaint, Tishman and Upper Fifth Avenue proffered unrebutted proof that their liability for the injuries at issue was purely vicarious. Therefore, the Supreme Court erred in denying that branch of their cross-motion which was for summary judgment on their claim for common-law indemnification from D&M (see, Chapel v Mitchell, 84 NY2d 345; Charles v Eisenberg, 250 AD2d 801; Freeman v National Audubon Socy., 243 AD2d 608).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
264 A.D.2d 499, 694 N.Y.S.2d 719, 1999 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gordon-v-tishman-construction-corp-nyappdiv-1999.