Jaroszewicz v. Facilities Development Corp.

• Decision Date: 21 November 1985
• Citation: 115 A.D.2d 159,495 N.Y.S.2d 498
• Parties: Elaine F. JAROSZEWICZ, as Administratrix of the Estate of Alfred K. Jaroszewicz, Deceased, Appellant, v. FACILITIES DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION et al., Defendants, and C.F. Murphy Associates et al., Respondents, and County Electric Company, Inc., et al., Appellants. (And Two Third-Party Actions.)
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 498

495 N.Y.S.2d 498

115 A.D.2d 159

Elaine F. JAROSZEWICZ, as Administratrix of the Estate of Alfred K. Jaroszewicz, Deceased, Appellant, v. FACILITIES DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION et al., Defendants and C.F. Murphy Associates et al., Respondents and County Electric Company, Inc., et al., Appellants (And Two Third-Party Actions.)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Third Department.

Nov. 21, 1985.

Toberoff & Tessler (Morton Miller, of counsel), New York City, for Elaine F. Jaroszewicz, appellant.

Pentak, Brown & Tobin (Robert A. Murphy, Jr., of counsel), Albany, for County Elec. Co., Inc., appellant.

James L. Pemberton, 701 Union Street, Schenectady, New York 12305, for Bombace Contracting Company, Inc., appellant.

Donohue, Donohue & Sabo (Kenneth Varley, of counsel), Albany, for C.F. Murphy Associates, respondent.

Before MAHONEY, P.J., and MAIN, CASEY, WEISS and LEVINE, JJ.

CASEY, Justice.

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court at Special Term (Kahn, J.), entered March 29, 1985 in Albany County, which granted the motion of defendants C.F. Murphy Associates and Lothrop Associates for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and all cross claims asserted against them.

Plaintiff seeks damages arising out of the death of her husband, a maintenance mechanic, who was electrocuted while trouble-shooting an electrical problem in the parking lot lighting system of the recently constructed Westchester County Medical Center, where the decedent was employed. A report, prepared by a consultant at the employer's request, indicates that the immediate cause of the accident was a short-circuit connection between buried wires resulting from the mechanical distortion of the conduit carrying the wires. The report hypothesizes that the distortion of the conduit was caused by postinstallation excavation work. Plaintiff has sued various parties involved in the construction of the Medical Center, including defendants C.F. Murphy Associates and Lothrop Associates, the architects for the project. This appeal is concerned only with the liability of defendant architects.

Plaintiff does not allege that a design defect contributed to the accident. Rather, plaintiff apparently claims that the architects are liable under Labor Law § 241, as agents of the owner, for breach of the duty to provide a safe place to work, and under a common-law theory of negligence for improper supervision of the construction work. We conclude that, based upon the pleadings and other papers in the record, Special Term properly granted summary judgment to defendant architects.

Labor Law § 241 applies to "contractors and owners and their agents * * * when constructing or demolishing buildings or doing any excavating in connection therewith". The duty to provide "reasonable and adequate protection and safety", established by Labor Law § 241 (6), is owed to persons employed in or lawfully frequenting "areas in which construction, excavation or demolition work is being performed " (emphasis supplied). While this statute "is to be liberally construed to protect workers engaged in hazardous occupations, it may not be so implemented by decisional law as to establish a cause of action and right of recovery not contemplated by the Legislature" (Sprague v. Louis...