Summary
In Reinhart v. Long Island Lighting Co., 91 A.D.2d 571, 457 N.Y.S.2d 57 (1st Dep't 1982), the First Department held that two plumbers, who were employed by the defendant and who fell from a scaffold on a construction site while discussing a payroll problem, were protected by the statute even though they were not involved in plumbing at the time of their accident.
Summary of this case from Prats v. Port Authority of N.Y. and New JerseyOpinion
December 21, 1982
Order of the Supreme Court, New York County (Kirschenbaum, J.), entered on March 30, 1982, which denied the motion of the plaintiffs for summary judgment on the issue of liability only, reversed, on the law, with costs, and the motion granted. Plaintiffs, two plumbers employed by a subcontractor, were standing on a scaffold on a construction site owned by the defendant Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO). The scaffold had been erected by the defendant Dravo Corporation, one of a number of independent "general" contractors at the construction site. One of the plaintiffs was on the upper scaffold and met the other plaintiff at an intermediate scaffold to discuss a payroll and timesheet problem, which seems to have been the other plaintiff's responsibility as a shop steward. While the plaintiffs were talking, the guardrail gave way, and the plaintiffs fell to the floor below sustaining injuries. A fair reading of the testimony of a safety supervisor, an employee of another general contractor, the defendant Stone Webster, Inc., shows that the scaffold was defective because nails smaller than required were used and the reinforcement was in the wrong place. Sections 240 Lab. and 241 Lab. of the Labor Law provide that scaffolds shall be so constructed as to give proper protection to the persons employed in connection with the structure and using the scaffold. There is absolute liability (see Allen v Cloutier Constr. Corp., 44 N.Y.2d 290), and negligence is not the basis for liability (see Long v Forest-Fehlhaber, 55 N.Y.2d 154). Nor is contributory (comparative) negligence of the plaintiff a bar or partial defense ( Pereira v Herman Constr. Co., 74 A.D.2d 531). The only real issue is the fact that these plaintiffs seem not to have been directly involved in the business of plumbing, for which they had been employed, at the time of the accident. (See Chabot v Baer, 82 A.D.2d 928; Yearke v Zarcone, 57 A.D.2d 457.) However, they were employed, and they were not interlopers, and the scaffold was defective, and accordingly, summary judgment should have been granted as to liability. (See Calfon v Gunhill Private Limousine Corp., 91 A.D.2d 531.)
Concur — Kupferman, J.P., Sandler, Silverman and Lynch, JJ.
I concur in the result. The activities in which the plaintiffs were engaged at the time of the accident were clearly within the scope of their employment.