GATES v. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY (2025)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Verna L. Saunders, J.), entered February 2, 2024, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on their Labor Law §§ 240(1) and 241(6) claims, unanimously modified, on the law, to grant summary judgment on the Labor Law § 240(1) claim, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.  Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered December 10, 2024, which denied plaintiffs' motion for leave to renew their motion for summary judgment, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as academic.

Plaintiffs established prima facie entitlement to summary judgment on their Labor Law § 240(1) claim.  Plaintiff Justin Gates was injured when, as he attempted to step off a ladder it wobbled, and he fell onto a piece of steel conduit.  Plaintiff testified at his deposition that the area of the floor where he had to place the ladder, given the layout of the room, had a depression and thus, one leg of the ladder was not flat on the ground.  While there was nothing inherently defective in the ladder being used by plaintiff at the time of his accident, it was inadequate considering the room's configuration and the condition of the floor (see Felker v. Corning Inc., 90 N.Y.2d 219, 224, 660 N.Y.S.2d 349, 682 N.E.2d 950 [1997];  Ross v. 1510 Assocs. LLC, 106 A.D.3d 471, 471, 964 N.Y.S.2d 514 [1st Dept. 2013]).  Defendants' reliance on the accident reports and medical records to raise a material issue of fact is unavailing.  While the description of how the accident occurred in those documents might have each been incomplete, they were not inconsistent with plaintiffs' claims (see Hartrum v. Montefiore Hosp. Hous. Section II Inc., 237 A.D.3d 429, 431, 231 N.Y.S.3d 445 [1st Dept. 2025]).

Plaintiffs' Labor Law § 241(6) claim is academic in light of the grant of partial summary judgment on their Labor Law § 240(1) claim (see Malan v. FSJ Realty Group II LLC, 213 A.D.3d 541, 542, 185 N.Y.S.3d 5 [1st Dept. 2023];  Howard v. Turner Constr. Co., 134 A.D.3d 523, 524, 21 N.Y.S.3d 251 [1st Dept. 2015]).