SUAZO v. 501 MADISON SUTTON LLC (2025)

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lucindo Suarez, J.), entered June 30, 2023, which granted plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on his Labor Law §§ 240(1) and 241(6) claims, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff established prima facie entitlement to partial summary judgment on his Labor Law § 240(1) claim by his testimony that he was engaged in wall plastering work atop an A-frame ladder, that he held plaster material in one hand and his spreading knife in the other as he worked, and that the ladder suddenly toppled, causing him to fall (see e.g. Ping Lin v. 100 Wall St. Prop. L.L.C., 193 A.D.3d 650, 651, 148 N.Y.S.3d 71 [1st Dept. 2021];  Caceres v. Standard Realty Assoc., Inc., 131 A.D.3d 433, 433–434, 15 N.Y.S.3d 338 [1st Dept. 2015], appeal dismissed 26 N.Y.3d 1021, 20 N.Y.S.3d 333, 41 N.E.3d 1149 [2015]).  Contrary to defendants' argument, none of the alleged inconsistencies in plaintiff's testimony as to the ladder's height, the ceiling height, the stability of the ladder as he stood upon it, or even whether the ladder had moved before it toppled, undermine plaintiff's proof of a prima facie case (see e.g. Ortiz v. Burke Ave. Realty, Inc., 126 A.D.3d 577, 578, 3 N.Y.S.3d 582 [1st Dept. 2015]).

Defendants' argument that plaintiff's reaching or leaning while atop the ladder constituted the sole proximate cause of his accident is not persuasive (see Rodas–Garcia v. NYC United LLC, 225 A.D.3d 556, 207 N.Y.S.3d 473 [1st Dept. 2024];  Caceres, 131 A.D.3d at 434, 15 N.Y.S.3d 338).  There was no evidence that plaintiff was reaching or leaning at the time the ladder toppled, and to assume as much would be speculative (see Ortiz, 126 A.D.3d at 578, 3 N.Y.S.3d 582).  In any event, it is “conceptually impossible” for a plaintiff's negligence to be the sole proximate cause of an accident where, as here, it is shown that a violation of Labor Law § 240(1) was a concurrent cause of the accident (Blake v. Neighborhood Hous. Servs. of N.Y. City, 1 N.Y.3d 280, 290, 771 N.Y.S.2d 484, 803 N.E.2d 757 [2003]).

As plaintiff has demonstrated entitlement to partial summary judgment on his Labor Law § 240(1) claim, the arguments as to his Labor Law § 241(6) claim need not be reached (see Ruiz v. BOP 245 Park LLC, 231 A.D.3d 683, 684, 219 N.Y.S.3d 326 [1st Dept. 2024]).