Osorio v. Kenart Realty, Inc.

42 Misc. 3d 5, 977 N.Y.S.2d 553
CourtAppellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
DecidedOctober 16, 2013
StatusPublished

This text of 42 Misc. 3d 5 (Osorio v. Kenart Realty, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Osorio v. Kenart Realty, Inc., 42 Misc. 3d 5, 977 N.Y.S.2d 553 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

Ordered that the amended order and judgment are affirmed, without costs.

On January 24, 1998, plaintiff, an employee of EMO Mechanical Corp. (EMO), was working in the basement of defendants Pizza-Del, Inc., doing business as Eurostar Café and Pizza-Del and 45th Street Bake Corp., doing business as Eurostar Café (collectively Pizza-Del), using what he knew to be a highly flammable glue to affix aluminum panels to a wooden frame that was to house a commercial refrigerator-freezer. Pizza-Del leased the subject premises from the owner of the building, defendant Madison 45 Company (Madison), and had hired EMO to, among other things, affix the panels and install the refrigerator-freezer. EMO supplied the glue. Minutes after the bucket containing the glue was opened, a fire started in the basement, and plaintiff was injured.

Plaintiff commenced this action against, among others, Madison and Pizza-Del in the Supreme Court, Kings County, asserting causes of action alleging violations of Labor Law §§ 200, 240 (1) and 241 (6), and based on common-law negligence. In an amended order dated April 15, 2005, the Supreme Court, Kings County (Martin Schneier, J.), among other things, granted the branches of a motion by Madison seeking summary judgment [9]*9dismissing, insofar as asserted against it, so much of the complaint as sought to recover upon plaintiff’s Labor Law §§ 200 and 240 (1) and common-law negligénce causes of action. Plaintiff did not appeal from that order. The action was subsequently transferred to the Civil Court pursuant to CPLR 325 (d).

At a jury trial, plaintiff testified that, shortly after his immediate supervisor had opened the bucket of glue, a flash fire had started. The walls of the basement, and boxes and plastic stored therein, ignited. He escaped from the basement via a stairway. Plaintiff also claimed that the basement contained a large amount of garbage. Plaintiff further testified that garbage, and a table that had fallen near the stairway, had impeded his egress from the basement. However, the Civil Court sustained an objection to that testimony.

An expert witness called by plaintiff testified that the absence of ventilation in the basement had caused the fire. The witness testified, in effect, that, had the basement been properly ventilated, vapors emanating from the glue would not have ignited. Plaintiff also sought to call as an expert a retired New York City fire marshal, who had investigated the fire pursuant to Penal Law § 265.26 and was prepared to testify regarding the cause and origin of the fire. The Civil Court precluded that witness from testifying.

Plaintiff also introduced testimony from excerpts of several depositions indicating that Pizza-Del’s principal had previously hired EMO to perform the identical work — the installation of a commercial refrigerator-freezer, including affixing aluminum panels to a wooden frame — for another establishment he owned. In addition, Pizza-Del’s principal and the owner of EMO had a conversation in the premises on the day of the incident, before the fire started. There was no testimony as to the subject matter of the conversation. Furthermore, Pizza-Del’s principal testified that there was a water heater in the basement, which supplied hot water to the restaurant. He believed the water heater was operated with natural gas.

During the trial, the Civil Court sustained an objection, preventing plaintiff from reading to the jury certain questions and answers from the deposition of an employee of the building’s management company, regarding whether routine inspections were performed of the premises leased by Pizza-Del from Madison.

After all sides had rested, the Civil Court determined that it would not charge the jury with respect to any alleged violations [10]*10of Labor Law § 241 (6). As a result, the Civil Court, among other things, granted Madison’s motion for judgment as a matter of law on the remaining cause of action, and dismissed the remainder of the complaint insofar as asserted against Madison. The jury rendered a verdict finding Pizza-Del negligent and that its negligence was a substantial factor in causing the accident. The jury also found that plaintiff was negligent, but that his negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the accident. The jury apportioned 100% of fault in the happening of the accident to Pizza-Del.

Pizza-Del then moved, pursuant to CPLR 4404 (a), to set aside the verdict as a matter of law and to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against it. In an amended decision and order entered April 29, 2010, the Civil Court granted the motion (26 Misc 3d 1227[A], 2010 NY Slip Op 50280[U] [2010]). The court determined that Pizza-Del did not know nor should it have known of a dangerous condition based on the use of the flammable glue, and that the work performed by plaintiff was not inherently dangerous. The court further indicated that the storage of garbage in the basement and/or the failure to have a ventilation system were not, in and of themselves, unsafe or dangerous conditions.

Madison’s assertion that the 2005 order of the Supreme Court, Kings County, which, among other things, granted the branches of Madison’s motion seeking summary judgment dismissing, insofar as asserted against Madison, plaintiffs Labor Law §§ 200 and 240 (1) and common-law negligence causes of action, constitutes the law of the case and is not reviewable on appeal, is without merit. Plaintiffs appeal from the judgment brings up for review the Supreme Court’s order (see CPLR 5501 [a] [1]), and this court is authorized to review the order, which is deemed an order of the Civil Court (see CPLR 326 [b]), upon an appeal from the judgment (see Pollack v Anh Thanh Pham, 27 Misc 3d 28 [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2010]; Delgatto v City of New York, NYLJ, Mar. 7, 1990 at 26 [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d & 11th Jud Dists]). Consequently, there is no bar to this court’s review of the order.

No evidence was presented that Madison exercised control or authority over Pizza-Del’s day-to-day operations. Moreover, there was no evidence that Madison was contractually obligated under its lease with Pizza-Del to make repairs to, or to maintain, the subject premises, or that Madison had a contractual right under the lease to reenter, inspect, and/or make needed repairs [11]*11involving a significant structural or design defect that is contrary to a specific statutory provision. Thus, Madison was not subject to liability under Labor Law § 200 or under a common-law negligence theory (see Panico v Jiffy Lube Intl., Inc., 86 AD3d 553 [2011]; Valenti v 400 Carlls Path Realty Corp., 52 AD3d 696, 697 [2008]; Reyes v Morton Williams Associated Supermarkets, Inc., 50 AD3d 496, 497 [2008]; Vasquez v The Rector, 40 AD3d 265, 266 [2007]).

With respect to the amended order granting the motion by Pizza-Del, pursuant to CPLR 4404 (a), to set aside the jury verdict on the issue of liability and to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against that defendant, a court may set aside a jury verdict pursuant to CPLR 4404 (a) on the ground of insufficient evidence only if there is “no valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences” by which the jury could have rationally reached its determination based on the evidence presented at the trial (Cohen v Hallmark Cards, 45 NY2d 493, 499 [1978]; see Szczerbiak v Pilot, 90 NY2d 553, 556 [1997]; Geary v Church of St. Thomas Aquinas, 98 AD3d 646 [2012]).

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Bluebook (online)
42 Misc. 3d 5, 977 N.Y.S.2d 553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/osorio-v-kenart-realty-inc-nyappterm-2013.