Masciotta v. Morse Diesel International, Inc.

303 A.D.2d 309, 758 N.Y.S.2d 286, 2003 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3247
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 27, 2003
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 303 A.D.2d 309 (Masciotta v. Morse Diesel International, Inc.) 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
Masciotta v. Morse Diesel International, Inc., 303 A.D.2d 309, 758 N.Y.S.2d 286, 2003 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3247 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

—Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Louise Gruner Gans, J.), entered March 4, 2002, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied Morse Diesel International, Inc.’s motion for partial summary judgment declaring its rights to contractual indemnification from third-party defendant and second third-party defendant W. Property Resources, Inc., unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion granted.

Plaintiff James Masciotta was a carpenter employed by W. Property Resources, Inc. (Property), a construction subcontractor on a project involving the interior renovation of a building owned by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). DASNY contracted with Morse Diesel International, Inc. (Morse) to manage the project, which encompassed interior renovations of nine floors to house the City University of New York Graduate School and a university center. According to the DASNY-Morse contract, Morse’s duties included keeping DASNY informed of the progress of the renovation, and advising the owner of any additional work that needed to be done. Mr. O’Reilly, a Morse project safety superintendent, testified at his deposition that he was required to walk the site and to assist contractors in complying with safety regulations; he also held a weekly safety meeting with the subcontractors.

At his deposition, plaintiff testified that on May 20, 1999, he was specifically assigned to do work on the third floor of the building. Mr. Scotland, a Property foreman, instructed him to work on certain ceiling light soffits, and provided him with a ladder and a screw gun to perform this job. Scotland denied that he gave plaintiff the ladder, but there was no testimony that the ladder belonged to Morse. Further, in its contract with Morse, Property agreed to provide all labor and materials for its work.

Plaintiff set up the six-foot A-frame ladder himself, and he checked to make sure that it was open and that its hinges were locked into place before ascending it. He did not observe any cracks, defects or substances on the ladder. He began using the screw gun above his head to secure tracks which would hold sheetrock for ceiling light soffits. Fifteen minutes into the project, as he was inserting the second in a line of screws into [310]*310the track, “the ladder just kicked out” and he fell to the ground. There were no Morse employees in the area.

After separately hearing of the accident, Scotland (from Property) and O’Reilly (from Morse) both went to the third-floor site. They saw a six-foot wooden A-frame ladder lying on the ground in its open position. Neither saw any defects in the ladder, which O’Reilly testified was lying 10 to 15 feet away from where plaintiff was sitting.

In the third-party action, Morse moved for summary judgment seeking contractual indemnification from Property. Property opposed the motion, asserting that there was an outstanding factual issue as to Morse’s negligence. The court denied Morse’s motion, “without prejudice to a finding of Labor Law § 240 (1) liability at trial, which is covered by the subject indemnification clause.” We reverse.

“A party is entitled to full contractual indemnification [for damages incurred in a personal injury suit] provided that the ‘intention to indemnify can be clearly implied from the language and purposes of the entire agreement and the surrounding facts and circumstances’ [citations omitted]” (Drzewinski v Atlantic Scaffold & Ladder Co., 70 NY2d 774, 777 [1987]). Further, “ ‘a court may render a conditional judgment on the issue of indemnityt ] pending determination of the primary action [ ] in order that the indemnitee [may] obtain the earliest possible determination as to the extent to which he or she may expect to be reimbursed’ [citations omitted]” (State of New York v Travelers Prop. Cas. Ins. Co., 280 AD2d 756, 757 [2001]). Paragraph 5 (a) of the subcontract between Morse and Property (the Indemnification Provision), provides,

“To the extent permitted by law, Subcontractor [Property] shall indemnify, defend, save and hold the Owner, the Contractor [Morse] and Architect * * * harmless from and against all liability, damage, loss, claims, demands and actions of any nature whatsoever which arise out of or are connected with, or are claimed to arise out of or be connected with:

“1. The performance of Work by the Subcontractor, or any act or omission of Subcontractor;

“2. Any 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 thereof (a) while the Subcontractor is performing the Work, either directly or indirectly through a subcontractor or material agreement, or (b) while any of the Subcontractor’s property, equipment or personnel are in or about such place or the vicinity thereof by reason of or as a result of the performance of the Work; or

[311]*311“3. The use, misuse, erection, maintenance, operation or failure of any machinery or equipment (including, but not limited to, scaffolds, derricks, ladders, hoists, rigging supports, etc.) whether or not such machinery or equipment was furnished, rented or loaned by the Owner or Contractor or their officers, employees, agents, servants or others, to the Subcontractor.

“4. As used in subparagraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this paragraph 5a, subcontractor shall include its lower tier subcontractors.”

Because it is undisputed that Masciotta’s injuries arose out of Property’s work and/or an act or omission of Property (Indemnification Provision para 5 [a] [1]); the accident happened in the area where Property’s work was being performed, involved a Property employee and occurred during the performance of Property’s work (Indemnification Provision para 5 [a] [2]); and the claim relates to use, misuse, erection, maintenance, operation or failure of a ladder (Indemnification Provision para 5 [a] [3]), the indemnification provision holds Property responsible to Morse for this accident (see Brown v Two Exch. Plaza Partners, 146 AD2d 129, 136-137 [1989], affd 76 NY2d 172 [1990]). “By [drafting this indemnification] clause, [Morse], anticipating an accident in which no negligence by any party can be established, [sought] to spread [its] broad, absolute, frequently vicarious liability under the Labor Law to [its] subcontractors [here, Property] regardless of fault, as each undert [ook] to perform” (Brown, supra at 137).

Property urges that General Obligations Law § 5-322.1

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Bluebook (online)
303 A.D.2d 309, 758 N.Y.S.2d 286, 2003 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/masciotta-v-morse-diesel-international-inc-nyappdiv-2003.