| Bain v 50 W. Dev., LLC |
| 2021 NY Slip Op 00901 [191 AD3d 496] |
| February 11, 2021 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Kendell Bain, Appellant-Respondent, v 50 West Development, LLC, et al., Respondents-Appellants. (And a Third-Party Action.) |
Pollack, Pollack, Isaac & DeCicco, LLP, New York (Brian J. Isaac of counsel), for appellant-respondent.
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP, New York (Nicholas Hurzeler of counsel), for respondents-appellants.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Sherry Klein Heitler, J.), entered October 3, 2019, which, to the extent appealed from, as limited by the briefs, denied plaintiff's and defendants' motions for summary judgment on the claims based upon Labor Law §§ 240 (1) and 241 (6) predicated upon a violation of Industrial Code (12 NYCRR) § 23-1.22 (b) (3), unanimously modified, on the law, to grant plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment with respect to the Labor Law § 241 (6) claim, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
On the issue whether an elevation differential is "physically significant" to fall within the purview of section 240 (1), a court must consider, inter alia, "the weight of the object and the amount of force" the object is "capable of generating, even over the course of a relatively short descent" (Runner v New York Stock Exch., Inc., 13 NY3d 599, 605 [2009]; see also Wilinski v 334 E. 92nd Hous. Dev. Fund Corp., 18 NY3d 1 [2011]). The motion court correctly denied the cross motions for summary judgment with respect to defendants' liability under section 240 (1) as triable issues exist regarding the cumulative weight of the particle board sheets that fell on plaintiff from an A-frame cart after it toppled when its wheel was caught in a gap in the ramp structure as workers were wheeling it (see Runner, 13 NY3d at 604-605; Touray v HFZ 11 Beach St. LLC, 180 AD3d 507 [1st Dept 2020]).
However, plaintiff is entitled to partial summary judgment on his section 241 (6) claim
predicated upon Industrial Code § 23-1.22 (b) (3), which requires ramp planks to
be, inter alia, "laid close, butt jointed and securely nailed" (see e.g. Weiss v El Ad Props. NY LLC, 62 AD3d 472, 473 [1st
Dept 2009]; Arrasti v HRH Constr.
LLC, 60 AD3d 582 [1st Dept 2009]). The record shows, inter alia, that the ramp where
plaintiff's accident occurred consisted of two strips of planking that was loosely cobbled together,
not wide enough to span the width of the two 2