Tipaldi v. Riverside Memorial Chapel, Inc.

• Decision Date: 22 October 1948
• Citation: Tipaldi v. Riverside Memorial Chapel, Inc., 298 N.Y. 686, 82 N.E.2d 585 (N.Y. 1948)
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Tipaldi v. Riverside Memorial Chapel, Inc.

298 N.Y. 686

82 N.E.2d 585

Edmund TIPALDI, Respondent,

v.RIVERSIDE MEMORIAL CHAPEL, Inc., et al., Appellants-Respondents.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Oct. 22, 1948.

Appeal from Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, 273 App.Div. 414, 78 N.Y.S.2d 12.

Action by Edmund Tipaldi against Riverside Memorial Chapel, Inc., and New York Riverside Memorial Chapel, Inc. for injuries sustained when a plank fell from a canopy erected over a sidewalk in connection with construction of an addition to a funeral chapel owned by the first named defendant and operated by the second named defendant, wherein the defendants cross-complained against J. Alexander Stein, general contractor, and others, subcontractors.

The accident occurred while plaintiff was walking in front of the premises on a Sunday afternoon when no workmen were on the site. Although the general contractor did not perform the actual work of construction under its contract and sublet the several contracts for construction to subcontractors, it supervised the work and designated a construction superintendent for the job.

The plaintiff recovered a judgment in the trial court against the defendants and against J. Alexander Stein. A motion of the defendants for judgments over against J. Alexander Stein was denied. Verdict was in favor of the subcontractors. From the judgment in favor of plaintiff against the defendants and from an order denying the defendants' motion for judgment over against the defendant J. Alexander Stein, the defendants Riverside Memorial Chapel, and New York Riverside Memorial Chapel appealed; from judgment in favor of plaintiff against J. Alexander Stein, Inc., that defendant appealed. The Appellate Division held that the owner and operator of the property had a...