KALAF v. PSEG LONG ISLAND LLC (2024)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (James d'Auguste, J.), entered June 29, 2023, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 241(6) and common-law negligence claims and on their common-law indemnification claim against third-party defendant JNR Equipment & Erosion Services (JNR), unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff worked for JNR in connection with a project involving replacing utility lines for defendant PSEGLI. At the time of plaintiff's accident, plaintiff's assignment was to fill holes, which had been made by the removal of wooden utility posts, with mulch, using a truck and a bark blower machine.  On the day of the accident, the metal blades in the bark blower machine's auger were frozen.  Plaintiff was injured while attempting to remove ice from the bark blower machine when his hand got caught in the blades of the auger.

The court properly denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 241(6) claim, as defendants failed to establish that plaintiff was not a covered worker under the statute.  The evidence shows that plaintiff traveled to the site of his accident for the purpose of continuing work he had previously been engaged in performing, and defendants have not established that plaintiff's work of filling holes following defendants removal of the wooden utility posts is not covered under the statute (see e.g. Mejia v. Unique Dev. Holding Corp., 188 A.D.3d 574, 575, 136 N.Y.S.3d 245 [1st Dept. 2020];  Rutkowski v. New York Convention Ctr. Dev. Corp., 146 A.D.3d 686, 686, 46 N.Y.S.3d 54 [1st Dept. 2017]).  Further, defendants have not established that the area appurtenant to the substation was not a covered location, insofar as plaintiff was readying JNR's equipment for additional work (see generally Karwowski v. 1407 Broadway Real Estate, LLC, 160 A.D.3d 82, 86, 73 N.Y.S.3d 30 [1st Dept. 2018]).

Defendants also failed to establish that plaintiff was the sole proximate cause of his accident.  There are issues of fact as to whether, among other things, plaintiff unintentionally stuck his hand into the bark blower machine after slipping on ice.  Defendants also failed to show as a matter of law that plaintiff solely proximately caused his accident by disregarding safety guidelines.  Plaintiff submitted evidence showing that the machine's safety features were defective in allowing the auger to rotate while the back door was open.  If plaintiff prevails on that issue, his act of chipping ice out of the machine, as instructed, would at most amount to comparative negligence (see Cotroneo v. Van Wagner Sign Erectors, LLC, 210 A.D.3d 421, 422, 177 N.Y.S.3d 40 [1st Dept. 2022]).

Moreover, defendants have not established their lack of notice as to any dangerous condition causing the accident, including the possibly icy condition of the ground.  Therefore, the court also properly declined to dismiss the common-law negligence claim or grant common-law indemnification against JNR (see e.g. Lapinsky v. Extell Dev. Co., 202 A.D.3d 478, 480, 163 N.Y.S.3d 500 [1st Dept. 2022];  Maggio v. 24 W. 57 APF, LLC, 134 A.D.3d 621, 626, 24 N.Y.S.3d 1 [1st Dept. 2015]).