Ortega v. Puccia

57 A.D.3d 54, 866 N.Y.2d 323
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedOctober 28, 2008
StatusPublished
Cited by810 cases

This text of 57 A.D.3d 54 (Ortega v. Puccia) 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
Ortega v. Puccia, 57 A.D.3d 54, 866 N.Y.2d 323 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Dillon, J.

This appeal presents us with an occasion to discuss the precise standard that must be applied in determining summary judgment motions involving causes of action asserting violations of Labor Law § 200, when an accident arises out of the methods or manner of work at a work site rather than a dangerous or defective condition of the premises.

[56]*56I. Relevant Facts

The facts underlying this appeal are fairly straightforward. The plaintiff Javier Alcides Ortega (hereinafter the plaintiff) was injured on Sunday, August 8, 2007, while performing work in the scope of his employment with Blue Bird Drywall (hereinafter Blue Bird). On the date of the accident, and for three to five days prior to the accident, the plaintiff performed his work within a single-family house in Bethpage, which was owned by the defendants Troy Puccia (hereinafter Puccia) and Stacey Puccia (hereinafter together the defendants).1 Blue Bird had been hired by the defendants to perform drywall work on a second story that had been added to the house earlier in the year. Blue Bird’s on-site supervisor, Americo Laird, brought a scaffold to the defendants’ house on the first day of the drywall project, and assembled it there. The plaintiff and Puccia both testified at their depositions that they believed that the scaffold had been disassembled on the day before the accident. Their testimony also reveals that the scaffold had been reassembled at some point prior to the accident and that, in the course of reassembly, the wheels with which the scaffold had been equipped were not reattached to it. The scaffold was so large that, when fully assembled, it could not be moved through the hallways of the house.

On the morning of the accident, the plaintiff arrived at the defendants’ house to continue taping the walls and ceilings. The parties disagree on what happened next. The plaintiff testified at his deposition that Puccia moved the disassembled scaffold from a bedroom to a great room, where Puccia reassembled it. He asserted that the wheels of the scaffold were attached to it, but the wheels were not locked because the locks were not working. According to the plaintiff, Puccia placed four wood blocks under the wheels to hold them in place.

In contrast, Puccia testified at his deposition that he never touched the scaffold during the days leading up to the accident, except when he slightly moved it out of his way on two occasions. He further testified that, while the wheels of the scaffold were equipped with a locking mechanism, he did not know whether it functioned properly prior to the accident. Puccia [57]*57denied ever touching the scaffold or its wheels on the date of the plaintiffs accident and had no recollection of the presence of wood blocks under the scaffold’s wheels at that time. Puccia did, however, recall seeing wood blocks under the scaffold’s wheels on earlier occasions.

The parties agree that Puccia left the premises before the accident. The accident occurred between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., when the plaintiff allegedly fell from the scaffold. The plaintiff had no specific recollection of his accident, remembering only that he woke up in a hospital. Puccia’s wife, Stacey, who was at home at the time, heard a “boom” and found the plaintiff at the bottom of the stairs that led to the great room. Puccia believed that, while he was off-premises, the scaffold had been moved to a new location near the stairs of the great room.

The plaintiff commenced this action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained as a result of the defendants’ alleged negligence and violations of Labor Law §§ 200, 240 and 241 (6). The plaintiffs wife, Marie Mujica, asserted a cause of action for loss of services. The defendants’ answer denied the material allegations of the complaint, the parties proceeded with discovery, and the defendants thereafter moved, along with Alleyne, for summary judgment dismissing all of the claims.

The defendants argued that summary judgment was appropriate under the single-family homeowners’ exemption of Labor Law §§ 240 and 241. They also contended that summary judgment was warranted as to the common-law negligence and Labor Law § 200 claims, on the grounds, inter alia, that the plaintiff was in “sole control” of the scaffold at the time of the occurrence, their actions or omissions thus were not proximately related to the accident, and there was no evidence that any scaffold defect was proximately related to the plaintiffs fall.

In opposition, the plaintiff argued that his testimony regarding Puccia’s assembly and bracing of the scaffold before the accident raised triable issues of fact as to the defendants’ supervision and control of the work, requiring the denial of the defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing all of the claims.

The Supreme Court, in an order entered February 20, 2007, found that there was no evidence that the defendants exercised supervision or control over the work, and that any dangerous condition arose out of the contractor’s own methods. Absent supervision or control over the work, the Supreme Court held that the defendants were entitled to invoke the single-[58]*58family homeowners’ exemption of Labor Law §§ 240 and 241, and that the defendants were not liable under Labor Law § 200 or for common-law negligence as a matter of law. The court thus granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

II. Labor Law § 240

Labor Law § 240 requires contractors and property owners, engaged in, among other things, the construction, demolition, or repair of buildings or structures, to furnish or erect scaffolding, ladders, pulleys, ropes, and other safety devices, which must be constructed, placed, or operated as to give proper protection for workers (see Labor Law § 240 [1]). The statute is intended to protect workers from gravity-related occurrences stemming from the inadequacy or absence of enumerated safety devices (see Narducci v Manhasset Bay Assoc., 96 NY2d 259, 268 [2001]). The duties articulated in Labor Law § 240 are nondelegable, and liability is absolute as to the general contractor or owner when its breach of the statute proximately causes injuries (see Jock v Fien, 80 NY2d 965, 967-968 [1992]; Rocovich v Consolidated Edison Co., 78 NY2d 509, 513 [1991]).

The language of Labor Law § 240 (1) expressly exempts “owners of one and two-family dwellings who contract for but do not direct or control the work.” This exemption is intended to protect residential homeowners lacking in sophistication or business acumen from their failure to recognize the necessity of insuring against the strict liability imposed by the statute (see Bartoo v Buell, 87 NY2d 362, 368 [1996]; see also Cannon v Putnam, 76 NY2d 644, 649 [1990]; Mayen v Kalter, 282 AD2d 508, 509 [2001]).

As the parties seeking summary judgment, the defendants bore the initial burden of establishing their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law (see Giuffrida v Citibank Corp., 100 NY2d 72, 81 [2003]; Friends of Animals v Associated Fur Mfrs., 46 NY2d 1065, 1067 [1979]).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kelly v. RBSL Realty, LLC
2025 NY Slip Op 07291 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2025)
Tejada v. Boro Park Kosher Caterers LLC
2025 NY Slip Op 31597(U) (New York Supreme Court, Kings County, 2025)
Cruz v. 11 Hoyt Prop. Owner, L.P.
2024 NY Slip Op 50895(U) (New York Supreme Court, Kings County, 2024)
Giaramita v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
2024 NY Slip Op 32405(U) (New York Supreme Court, New York County, 2024)
Sobral v. Townhouse Bldrs. Inc.
2024 NY Slip Op 31371(U) (New York Supreme Court, Kings County, 2024)
Zsuffa v. Britt Realty, LLC
E.D. New York, 2022
Sanchez v. BBL Constr. Servs., LLC
202 A.D.3d 847 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2022)
Poalacin v. Mall Properties, Inc.
2017 NY Slip Op 8027 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Portalatin v. Tully Construction Co.-E.E. Cruz & Co.
2017 NY Slip Op 7762 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
King v. Villette
2017 NY Slip Op 7596 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Jin Chengri v. Su Yonh Choi
2017 NY Slip Op 6356 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Melendez v. 778 Park Avenue Building Corp.
2017 NY Slip Op 6175 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Caban v. Plaza Construction Corp.
2017 NY Slip Op 5931 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Rodriguez v. Mendlovits
2017 NY Slip Op 5988 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Kearney v. Dynegy, Inc.
2017 NY Slip Op 5209 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Wadlowski v. Cohen
2017 NY Slip Op 3797 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
DeFelice v. Seakco Constr. Co., LLC
2017 NY Slip Op 3481 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Esquivel v. 2707 Creston Realty, LLC
2017 NY Slip Op 3155 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)
Shaughnessy v. Huntington Hospital Ass'n
2017 NY Slip Op 1245 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 A.D.3d 54, 866 N.Y.2d 323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ortega-v-puccia-nyappdiv-2008.