Hucke v. Suffolk County Water Authority

119 A.D.3d 735, 989 N.Y.S.2d 333

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: July 16, 2014
• Docket: 2013-05647
• Status: Published

Opinion

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, etc., the plaintiffs appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Molia, J), dated October 31, 2012, which denied their motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability on the cause of action alleging a violation of Labor Law § 240 (1).

Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.

The plaintiffs failed to establish their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability on the cause of action alleging a violation of Labor Law § 240 (1). Their submissions demonstrated the existence of triable issues of fact, including whether the injured plaintiffs fall was caused by the defendant’s failure to provide guardrails on the scaffold he was using or, rather, by the sudden loss of consciousness that he experienced just before he fell (see Munford v Pressmad Corp., 277 AD2d 135, 135 [2000]). Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly denied the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability on the cause of action alleging a violation of Labor Law § 240 (1).

Mastro, J.P, Chambers, Lott and Roman, JJ., concur.