Brownrigg v. N.Y. City Hous. Auth.

• Decision Date: 02 February 2010
• Citation: 70 A.D.3d 619,898 N.Y.S.2d 545
• Parties: Richard BROWNRIGG, respondent-appellant, v. NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY, appellant-respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

898 N.Y.S.2d 545 70 A.D.3d 619 Richard BROWNRIGG, respondent-appellant, v. NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY, appellant-respondent. Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York. Feb. 2, 2010.

Edward Garfinkel (Fiedelman & McGaw, Jericho, N.Y. [James K. O'Sullivan], of counsel), for appellant-respondent.

Bisogno & Meyerson, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Elizabeth Mark Meyerson of counsel), for respondent-appellant.

JOSEPH COVELLO, J.P., DANIEL D. ANGIOLILLO, PLUMMER E. LOTT, and SHERI S. ROMAN, JJ.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Vaughan, J.), dated June 11, 2008, which, after directing a verdict for the plaintiff on the issue of liability on so much of the complaint as alleged a violation of Labor Law § 241-a, and upona prior jury verdict awarding the plaintiff damages in the principal sum of $660,000, is in favor of the plaintiff and against it in the principal sum of $660,000, and the plaintiff cross-appeals from the same judgment.

ORDERED that the cross appeal is dismissed as abandoned; and it is further,

ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Kings County, for a new trial on the issue of liability; and it is further,

ORDERED that in the event that the defendant is found liable at the new trial, the damages award shall be reinstated; and it is further,

ORDERED that the defendant is awarded one bill of costs.

This is the second time this case has come before us. On the first appeal by the defendant, New York City Housing Authority, we reversed a judgment which was entered upon the decision of the trial court (Douglas, J.) awarding, on the eve of trial, the plaintiff summary judgment on the issue of liability on so much of the complaint as alleged a violation ofLabor Law § 241-a but preserved the jury's damages award, pending resolution of the issue of liability after the new trial ( see Brownrigg v. New York City Hous. Auth., 29 A.D.3d 721, 815 N.Y.S.2d 681). The case now comes before us on the defendant's appeal from a judgment entered upon a directed verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against it. We again reverse.

The plaintiff and his coworker, both elevator mechanics, were repairing one of two elevators sharing a common shaftway, while the other elevator remained in operation. Upon returning to the elevators after making a telephone call, the plaintiff summoned the operational elevator, stepped part way into it, looked up into the shaftway, and called out to his coworker to ask on which floor the coworker was working. As the coworker, who was on top of the cab of the elevator being repaired, turned to answer, he knocked a tool off the top of the elevator's cab, which fell, injuring the plaintiff's right eye. The plaintiff sued the defendant alleging, inter alia, violations of Labor Law §§ 200, 241(6), and 241-a.

At the second trial on the issue of liability, the plaintiff proceeded primarily on the theory that the defendant's failure to install a vertical barrier between the two elevators sharing the shaftway in which he was working was a violation of Labor Law §§ 200 and 241(6), and that this violation led to his injury. All witnesses who could recall the status of the shaftway agreed that there was no vertical barrier in place at the time of the plaintiff's injury.

Despite the plaintiff's focus on the vertical barrier theory, so much of the complaint as alleged a violation of Labor Law § 241-a, which requires horizontal barriers no more than one floor below and no more than two floors above any worker, remained before the jury as well. Although the plaintiff did not present evidence relating directly to this theory of liability, the defendant's counsel conceded in colloquy that there was no planking in place. In addition, the plaintiff's coworker initially testified that the tool fell from the level of the second floor, but, when recalled to the stand and confronted with his earlier affidavit, he stated that the tool fell from the level of the fourth floor.

Before the jury was called in on the second day of trial, the court expressed its intention to direct a verdict for the plaintiff on so much of the complaint as alleged a violation of Labor Law § 241-a on the basis that the defendant had failed to place planking as required by that statute. The defendant objected, proffering testimonythat installing planking would have interfered with the operation of the elevator sharing the common shaftway in contravention of the Building Code of the City of New York§ 279-89. The court refused to permit the defendant to present the proffered testimony and directed a verdict on the issue of liability in favor of the plaintiff on so much of the complaint as alleged a violation of Labor Law § 241-a.

Prior to directing a verdict in favor of one party to an action, a court must determine "whether there [is] any rational basis...