PYANKAROO v. RENALI REALTY GROUP LLC (2025)

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lucindo Suarez, J.), entered December 15, 2023, which, to the extent appealed from, denied plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on the Labor Law § 240(1) claim, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff fell from a ladder while removing or reattaching a canvas storefront sign that was bolted into the building above the store's front entrance.  Plaintiff's activity at the time had the earmarks of routine maintenance, although he contended that his task with the canvas sign had been undertaken to prepare the storefront for the intended work of replacing damaged fluorescent lighting components, including ballasts and conduit-housed wiring, located behind the store's main advertising signs so that a new LED lighting system could be installed.  Plaintiff testified that this electrical work was to be performed in conjunction with the business's planned project of replacing the storefront's roll-down security gate on the front of the building, which was to be performed by contractors.

Even assuming plaintiff met his prima facie burden, there are factual issues as to whether this work had begun and was underway at the time of his fall, and thus whether plaintiff was engaged in a covered activity (see Panek v. County of Albany, 99 N.Y.2d 452, 457, 758 N.Y.S.2d 267, 788 N.E.2d 616 [2003], citing Martinez v. City of New York, 93 N.Y.2d 322, 326, 690 N.Y.S.2d 524, 712 N.E.2d 689 [1999];  see also Knight v. Amman & Whitney, Inc., 222 A.D.3d 407, 407–408, 201 N.Y.S.3d 23 [1st Dept. 2023]).