Begor v. Mid-Hudson Hardwoods, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 January 2003
• Citation: 301 A.D.2d 550,754 N.Y.S.2d 57
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Parties: SHANE BEGOR, Appellant-Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>MID-HUDSON HARDWOODS, INC., et al., Respondents,<BR>BRENNER & McHUGH, INC., et al., Appellants, et al., Defendants.

301 A.D.2d 550

754 N.Y.S.2d 57

SHANE BEGOR, Appellant-Respondent,

v. MID-HUDSON HARDWOODS, INC., et al., Respondents,BRENNER & McHUGH, INC., et al., Appellants, et al., Defendants.

Decided January 21, 2003.

Altman, J.P., S. Miller, Adams and Mastro, JJ., concur.

Ordered that the order is modified, on the law, by deleting the provision thereof denying that branch of the cross motion of the defendants Brenner & McHugh, Inc., and Anthony Brenner which was for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 200 and common-law negligence causes of action insofar as asserted against them and substituting therefor a provision granting that branch of their cross motion; as so modified, the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, the Labor Law § 200 and common-law negligence causes of action are dismissed insofar as asserted against the defendants Brenner & McHugh, Inc., and Anthony Brenner, those causes of action are severed insofar as asserted against the remaining defendants, and one bill of costs, payable by the plaintiff, is awarded to the defendants appearing on these appeals.

The defendants Brenner & McHugh, Inc., and Anthony Brenner (hereinafter the Brenner defendants) allegedly were hired as general contractors to build a one-family house on property owned by the defendant Daniel Connors. The defendants Mid-Hudson Hardwoods, Inc., and Brian M. Arico (hereinafter the Mid-Hudson defendants) agreed to clear trees from the property so that the house could be built. In turn, the Mid-Hudson defendants contracted with Four Seasons Logging and Land Clearing (hereinafter Four Seasons) to cut down the trees. The plaintiff was hired by Four Seasons to cut down the trees, and was injured when he was struck by a falling tree.

Contrary to the plaintiff's contentions, Connors and the Mid-Hudson defendants were entitled to summary judgment dismissing the causes of action predicated upon Labor Law § 200 and common-law negligence insofar as asserted against them. Liability will be imposed upon an owner or general contractor under Labor Law § 200 only where the plaintiff's injuries were sustained as the result of a dangerous condition at the work site, rather than as the result of the manner in which the work was performed, and then only if the owner or general contractor exercised supervision and control over the work performed at the site or had actual or constructive notice of the unsafe condition causing the accident (see Giambalvo v Chemical Bank, 260 AD2d 432)....