Villanueva v. J.T. Magen & Co. Inc.

2025 NY Slip Op 31461(U)
New York Supreme Court, New York County·Decided April 24, 2025·No. Index No. 155823/2020·Unpublished

Opinion

Villanueva v J.T. Magen & Co. Inc.

2025 NY Slip Op 31461(U)

April 24, 2025

Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 155823/2020 Judge: David B. Cohen

Cases posted with a "30000" identifier, i.e., 2013 NY Slip Op 30001(U), are republished from various New York State and local government sources, including the New York State Unified Court System's eCourts Service. This opinion is uncorrected and not selected for official publication.

NYSCEF DOC. NO. 132 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/24/2025

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK NEW YORK COUNTY

PRESENT: HON. DAVID B. COHEN PART 58 Justice

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------X INDEX NO. 155823/2020 CARLOS VILLANUEVA,

MOTION DATE 10/29/2024 Plaintiff,

MOTION SEQ. NO. 003 -v-

J.T. MAGEN & COMPANY INC., NORDSTROM, INC., BROADWAY 57TH/58TH RETAIL INVESTOR, LLC, 1790 DECISION + ORDER ON

BROADWAY ASSOCIATES LLC and ULM I HOLDING CORP., MOTION

Defendants.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------X

The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 003) 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130 were read on this motion for SUMMARY JUDGMENT .

In this Labor Law action, plaintiff moves, pursuant to CPLR 3212, for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability under Labor Law § 240(1) as against defendants J.T. Magen & Company, Inc. (J.T. Magen), Nordstrom, Inc. (Nordstrom), Broadway 57th/58th Retail Investor, LLC (Broadway), and ULM I Holding Corp. (ULM) and to set this matter down for an assessment of damages. Defendants oppose.

BACKGROUND

This action arises out of an accident that occurred on May 1, 2019 on the sixth floor of the Nordstrom Building located at 225 West 57th Street in Manhattan (premises) (NY St Cts Elec Filing [NYSCEF] Doc No. 84, verified complaint ¶ 7). Broadway owned the premises on the date of the accident (NYSCEF Doc No. 85, verified answer ¶ 8), and retained J.T. Magen as a contractor on the Nordstrom Manhattan Flagship project (NYSCEF Doc No. 88). By purchase

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NYSCEF DOC. NO. 132 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/24/2025

order, J.T. Magen retained plaintiff’s employer, JPR Mechanical, to perform HVAC and mechanical work on the project (NYSCEF Doc No. 90).

Plaintiff testified at his deposition that on May 1, 2019, he was working for JPR on the Nordstrom Building project (NYSCEF Doc No. 94, plaintiff tr at 18-19). That day, plaintiff’s foreman instructed plaintiff and his coworkers to transport ducts from the hoist on the sixth floor to the machine room (id. at 51, 59). They were going to move two sections of duct that were stacked on two wheeled dollies (id. at 57, 58), with each duct weighing about 350 pounds and measuring 48-inches tall, 78-inches wide, and 60-inches long (id. at 56, 60). When stacked together, the ducts measured approximately eight-and-a-half feet above the ground (id. at 57).

The ducts were not strapped together or secured in any way to the dollies (id. at 57, 59).

Plaintiff was going to move the dollies with two coworkers (id. at 52, 65, 66). Plaintiff was in front of the dollies, a coworker was on the side, and the other coworker was pushing the dollies from the back (id. at 65). Plaintiff’s accident happened in an open area, while he had both hands on the bottom section of the duct (id. at 71, 72). As they were turning a corner, “the top duct came towards [plaintiff]” (id. at 20, 70). He tried to stop the duct from falling, but the duct was too heavy, and plaintiff and the duct fell to the floor (id. at 20, 67, 72). Plaintiff testified that “those ducts should never have been stacked one on top of the other because they are too heavy” (id. at 73). He believed that the accident happened because the ducts “were not tied together one to the other” (id. at 74).

Plaintiff’s coworker avers that the ducts were double-wall, machine-room ducts weighing over 800 pounds, and that they were double-stacked about five-and-a-half feet tall and were placed on two dollies (NYSCEF Doc No. 98, Albi aff, ¶ 3). According to the coworker, the ducts were not strapped together or secured to the dollies in any way (id., ¶ 4). He was behind

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NYSCEF DOC. NO. 132 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/24/2025

the duct pushing the dolly and plaintiff was in front steering the load (id.). As the workers made a right turn with the dollies, one of the dollies shifted and the top duct began to fall (id.). Plaintiff grabbed the duct to try to stop it from falling and hitting him, but it was too heavy (id., ¶ 6). Plaintiff and the duct fell to the ground (id.).

Philip Giuffre (Giuffre), plaintiff’s foreman, avers that plaintiff told him on the accident date that he had been injured in the manner to which he testified at his deposition (NYSCEF Doc No. 110, Giuffre aff, ¶ 4). Giuffre states that all employees were instructed to secure all ducts to their dollies before attempting to move them, and “[t]here were ample straps, ropes, and harnesses available on site in the shanty which could be used for these purposes” (id., ¶ 6). Giuffre states that he does not know why plaintiff moved the dollies without properly securing the ducts, and nobody told plaintiff or his coworkers that they needed to rush to finish the task (id.).

J.T. Magen was a general contractor on the project, and its site superintendent testified that if workers were transporting double-stacked ducts, they should have been secured in some manner (NYSCEF Doc No. 95). J.T. Magen’s senior project manager testified that “[a]ny item has to be secured together at a minimum and secured to the means by which you are moving them” (NYSCEF Doc No. 96).

Nordstrom’s senior project manager for design and construction testified that he believed that Nordstrom owned Broadway (NYSCEF Doc No. 97), and that he “associate[d] [Broadway and Nordstrom] together” (id. at 38).

A C-3 report dated June 19, 2019, signed by plaintiff, states that plaintiff was injured while “lifting heavy duct work @ work” (NYSCEF Doc No. 111).

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NYSCEF DOC. NO. 132 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/24/2025

A Workers’ Compensation Board first report of injury form indicates that “IW ALLEGES WAS LIFTING HEAVY DUCT WORK WHEN HURT BACK AND RIGHT LEG” (NYSCEF Doc No. 112).

Dr. Edwin Perez examined plaintiff on June 17, 2019, and a report from that examination and a C-4 initial report of injury both state that plaintiff was injured “when he was doing some very heavy lifting at work, over 150 pounds and he hurt his back” (NYSCEF Doc No. 113; NYSCEF Doc No. 114).

A report dated August 1, 2019 from Rehabilitation Medicine Center of New York states that “while lifting something, [plaintiff] injured his back” (NYSCEF Doc No. 115). A C-4 initial report of injury, apparently completed by Ashley Simela, D.O. of Rehabilitation Medicine Center of New York, states that plaintiff “states that he was doing heavy lifting at work and injured his low back” (NYSCEF Doc No. 116).

Dr. Elizabeth Morrison examined plaintiff on November 15, 2019, October 16, 2020, and on February 5, 2021 (NYSCEF Doc Nos. 118-120). Reports from those visits state that:

“[t]he claimant states that he was lifting along with two co-workers a ‘sound proof’

duct that weighed approximately 300 pounds. He states that the duct on their shoulders started to rotate off their grip. He attempted to reposition himself to re-

establish control and in the process states injuries to his low back area right leg”

(id.).

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Villanueva v. J.T. Magen & Co. Inc., 2025 NY Slip Op 31461(U) (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2025).

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