Felker v. Corning Inc.

• Decision Date: 12 June 1997
• Citation: 660 N.Y.S.2d 349,90 N.Y.2d 219,682 N.E.2d 950
• Parties: , 682 N.E.2d 950 Raymond L. FELKER, Jr., et al., Respondents, v. CORNING INCORPORATED, et al., Respondents. WELLCO, INC., Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Respondent, v. JOHN H. COOK, JR. PAINTING CONTRACTORS, INC., Third-Party Defendant-Appellant. (And Another Action.)
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 349

660 N.Y.S.2d 349

90 N.Y.2d 219, 682 N.E.2d 950

Raymond L. FELKER, Jr., et al., Respondents, v. CORNING INCORPORATED, et al., Respondents.

WELLCO, INC., Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Respondent, v. JOHN H. COOK, JR. PAINTING CONTRACTORS, INC., Third-Party

Defendant-Appellant.

(And Another Action.)

Court of Appeals of New York.

June 12, 1997.

Burke, Albright, Harter & Rzepka, L.L.P., Rochester (Johnson S. Albright II and Matthew D. Nafus, of counsel), for third-party defendant-appellant.

Martin & Iati, Rochester (Valerie L. Barbic, of counsel), for Corning Incorporated and another, respondents.

Krenzer & Galliher, P.C., Honeoye Falls (Cyril A. Krenzer, of counsel), for Raymond L. Felker, Jr., and another, respondents.

OPINION OF THE COURT

SMITH, Judge.

Plaintiff was injured when, on August 14, 1992, while employed at his job as a painter, he fell over the wall of an alcove and through a suspended ceiling to the floor nine feet below. We hold that under the facts presented here, Labor Law § 240(1) was violated as a matter of law and the third-party defendant is liable for indemnification.

The property, known as Sullivan Park, was owned by defendant Corning Incorporated. Corning contracted with defendant Wellco to perform certain construction work on the facility. Wellco subcontracted with third-party defendant Cook to do painting work. Plaintiff was an employee of Cook.

Plaintiffs brought a personal injury action against Corning and Wellco, alleging negligence and a violation of Labor Law §§ 240, 241 and 200. Summary judgment was granted to plaintiffs against Corning and Wellco on the issue of liability, pursuant to Labor Law § 240(1). Corning's motion for common-law indemnity against Wellco was denied on the grounds of lack of evidence that Wellco directed or controlled the plaintiff painter. However, Corning's motion for contractual indemnity against Wellco was granted. Wellco's cross motion for contractual indemnity against Cook was denied, but its motion for common-law indemnity against Cook was granted. The Appellate Division affirmed the grant of summary judgment against Corning and Wellco, and the order of common-law indemnity against Cook. This Court granted Cook leave to appeal from the subsequent Supreme Court judgment awarding damages.

On this appeal, third-party defendant Cook contends that summary judgment on liability was improperly granted to the plaintiffs and further contends that the general contractor Wellco is not entitled to indemnification against Cook in the absence of a showing of negligence and in view of the contractual indemnification agreement between the parties.

We turn first to the issue of summary judgment. Plaintiff's claim is that he fell from a ladder over the wall of an alcove and through a suspended ceiling as he attempted to paint an area of the alcove. At his deposition, he could not remember the accident. In support of the motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability, plaintiff included his affidavit which stated in part, "Upon information and belief, as I was reaching over the partition (alcove wall) to reach the area to be painted, I was caused to lose my balance on the ladder and fell to my left over the partition (alcove wall), through the suspended ceiling of the alcove to the floor eight feet or more below, sustaining personal injuries."

In addition to the affidavit of the plaintiff, the motion for partial summary judgment was accompanied by the affidavit of a co-worker, Daniel Risavage, Jr., and the depositions of several persons. The affidavit of Risavage indicated that he went to the scene of the accident immediately upon being told that one of his co-workers had been injured. He found the plaintiff lying on the floor, barely conscious and bleeding and the ladder still in an upright position. Heidi Lynn Heichel-Baker, an employee of Sullivan Park, testified that several minutes before the accident, she had passed the area where plaintiff was painting. She was working in the next room when she heard a noise and went to investigate. She saw plaintiff lying on the floor and a portion of the suspended ceiling hanging down. The evidence in support of the motion for partial summary judgment was sufficient to conclude that plaintiff fell from a ladder through the suspended ceiling of the alcove.

Section 240(1) of the Labor Law provides that "All contractors and owners and their agents * * * who contract for but do not direct or control the work, in the erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning or pointing of a building or structure shall furnish or erect, or cause to be furnished or erected for the performance of such labor, scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, braces, irons, ropes, and other devices which shall be so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection to a person so employed."

Section 240(1) of the Labor Law was designed to place the responsibility for a worker's safety squarely upon the owner and contractor rather than on the worker (Zimmer v. Chemung County Performing Arts, 65 N.Y.2d 513, 520, 493 N.Y.S.2d 102, 482 N.E.2d 898). Section 240(1) is to be liberally construed to achieve its objectives (65 N.Y.2d, at 521, 493 N.Y.S.2d 102, 482 N.E.2d 898). The record indicates that plaintiff fell as he reached from a ladder, over an elevated, open area in order to paint an area of an alcove.

Here, there were two distinct elevation-related risks associated with the paint detail that plaintiff was directed to perform (see, Barnaby v. A. & C. Props., 188 A.D.2d 958, 959, 592 N.Y.S.2d 98). The first risk was created by the need to elevate plaintiff to the height above the alcove wall, and the stepladder was the enumerated safety device provided to protect the worker from the risk inherent in having to work at a height over eight feet above ground level (id.). No allegations were raised that the ladder itself was defective, that it slipped, tipped, was placed improperly or otherwise failed to support plaintiff at that elevation. Thus, contrary to Cook's claim, we are not concerned with the adequacy of this particular ladder as a device to safely elevate plaintiff.

More importantly, a second risk was created here by plaintiff's need to reach over the eight-foot alcove wall and work over an elevated, open area. It is the contractor's complete failure to provide any safety device to plaintiff to protect him from this second risk of...