Maraj v. Aurora Associates, L.P.

38 Misc. 3d 282
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 1, 2012
StatusPublished

This text of 38 Misc. 3d 282 (Maraj v. Aurora Associates, L.P.) 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
Maraj v. Aurora Associates, L.P., 38 Misc. 3d 282 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

David Elliot, J.

Motion by defendant for an order granting it summary judgment dismissing the complaint; and cross motion by plaintiff for an order granting summary judgment in his favor on his Labor Law § 240 (1) claim, and granting him leave to amend his bill of particulars. It is ordered that the motions are determined as follows:

This is an action to recover damages for injuries alleged to have been sustained as a result of a workplace accident, which occurred on April 6, 2010, at premises owned by defendant, [284]*284when plaintiffs left finger was pinned against a stairwell wall by an elevator sheave.

At his examination before trial, plaintiff testified to the following, in pertinent part: that plaintiff was employed by Rotavele Elevator, Inc. as a mechanic; that, on the day of the subject accident, he was converting/modernizing one of the passenger elevators in defendant’s building; that plaintiff and his coworkers were in the process of transporting new elevator machinery from the ground floor to the elevator machine room, which was located on top of the building; that the machine room is accessed by going up two flights of stairs from the building’s 31st floor; that prior to the accident, plaintiff and his coworkers were hoisting a l,500-to-2,000-pound elevator sheave to move it from the top of the landing of the first flight to the top of the landing of the second flight of stairs; that, in order to physically transport the machinery up the two flights, plaintiff and his coworkers installed angle irons on the ceiling at the top of each flight of stairs and attached a manual chain hoist thereto; that plaintiff also placed planks flat on the stairs so that the pieces of machinery that were being brought up would not get caught on the stair treads; that, after the workers successfully moved the sheave up to the landing between the first and second flights of stairs, plaintiff’s coworker wrapped the hoist’s chain around the sheave and then hooked it to itself; that, as the sheave began to be hoisted, plaintiff was standing to the left of it, on the landing between the first and second flights of stairs, while another worker was standing to its right, and two other workers were at the top of the landing at the second flight of stairs pulling the manual hoist; that plaintiffs hands remained on the sheave to keep it steady as it was being hoisted up; that the sheave had been hoisted up about 24 inches above the landing when it hit the right stairway wall; that, in response, his coworker pushed against it to re-balance it; that it then rolled to the left and bounced off the left stairway wall, at which point plaintiff heard a snap and the sheave came back down to the landing, went “vigorously to the left” and pinned plaintiffs finger to the left wall of the stairway; and that, when plaintiff looked to see if the chain had broken, he noticed that the latch on the manual chain hoist’s hook — known as a mouse — was missing.

With respect to plaintiffs cause of action under Labor Law § 240 (1), that statute requires owners, contractors, and their agents to provide workers with appropriate safety devices to [285]*285protect against “such specific gravity-related accidents as falling from a height or being struck by a falling object that was improperly hoisted or inadequately secured” (Ross v Curtis-Palmer Hydro-Elec. Co., 81 NY2d 494, 501 [1993]; see Rocovich v Consolidated Edison Co., 78 NY2d 509, 514 [1991]; Gasques v State of New York, 59 AD3d 666 [2009]; Rau v Bagels N Brunch, Inc., 57 AD3d 866 [2008]). The duty to provide scaffolding, ladders, and similar safety devices is nondelegable, as the purpose of the section is to protect workers by placing the ultimate responsibility on the owners and contractors (see Gordon v Eastern Ry. Supply, 82 NY2d 555, 559 [1993]; Ortega v Puccia, 57 AD3d 54 [2008]; Riccio v NHT Owners, LLC, 51 AD3d 897 [2008] ). In order to prevail on a cause of action pursuant to Labor Law § 240 (1), the plaintiff must establish that the statute was violated and that said violation was the proximate cause of his or her injuries (see Chlebowski v Esber, 58 AD3d 662 [2009] ; Rakowicz v Fashion Inst. of Tech., 56 AD3d 747 [2008]; Rudnik v Brogor Realty Corp., 45 AD3d 828 [2007]).

Both plaintiff and defendant move for summary judgment on this issue. Defendant, in support of its motion, contends that— though the work involved the use of a hoist — the task at hand did not involve the performance of work at two different levels, nor did it involve a significant elevation differential between where plaintiff was located and where the load was being hoisted. In fact, defendant states, plaintiff constantly kept both hands on the sheave and, when it slid down the plank, the bottom of it was only approximately two feet from the landing. Finally, defendant contends that the accident was only tangentially related to the force of gravity, since the sheave had already struck the landing before moving “laterally,” pinning plaintiffs finger to the wall.

Plaintiff, on the other hand, avers that section 240 does apply since the inadequacy of the hoist was the proximate cause of the accident. Further, the height differential cannot be considered de minimis given the weight of the equipment being hoisted and the amount of force it was capable of generating. Moreover, plaintiff states that the sheave did not, in fact, move laterally but that gravity caused the sheave to topple over to the left upon hitting the landing.

The Court of Appeals recently held in Wilinski v 334 E. 92nd Hous. Dev. Fund Corp. (18 NY3d 1 [2011]) that a worker is not precluded from recovery under Labor Law § 240 when he or she sustains injury caused by a falling object whose base stands at [286]*286the same level as the worker (id. at 9). The Court further stated that

“[o]ur jurisprudence defining the category of injuries that warrant the special protection of Labor Law § 240 (1) has evolved over the last two decades, centering around a core premise: that a defendant’s failure to provide workers with adequate protection from reasonably preventable, gravity-related accidents will result in liability” (id. at 7).

In distinguishing Misseritti v Mark IV Constr. Co. (86 NY2d 487 [1995]), which involved a wall whose base was on the same level as the plaintiff collapsing on him, the Wilinski Court clearly stated it would not adopt a “same level” rule; rather, it noted that Misseritti did not find liability because there was no causal nexus between the injury and a lack or failure of a protective device prescribed by the statute (id. at 9).

Earlier, the Court of Appeals decided Runner v New York Stock Exch., Inc. (13 NY3d 599 [2009]). In Runner, the plaintiff was injured when he and his coworkers were moving an 800-pound reel of wire down the stairs (id. at 602). To prevent the reel from rolling freely down, a rope was tied around the reel; one end of the rope was wrapped around a door jamb while plaintiff held the loose end (id.). As the reel descended, it pulled plaintiff horizontally into the bar, injuring him (id.). The Court determined that this injury did involve an elevation differential, given the “weight of the object and the amount of force it was capable of generating, even over the course of a relatively short descent” (id. at 605).

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Bluebook (online)
38 Misc. 3d 282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maraj-v-aurora-associates-lp-nysupct-2012.