MOISES RAMIREZ v. 2500 WEBB LLC RENNON CONSTRUCTION CORP (2026)

Gorayeb & Associates, P.C., New York (Jonathan D. Moran of counsel), for appellant.

Ahmuty Demers & McManus LLP, Albertson (Nicholas P. Calabria of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Erik L. Gray, J.), entered on or about May 30, 2025, which denied plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on the Labor Law § 240(1) claim, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

There are triable issues concerning whether plaintiff was injured by an object that was the target of disassembly (see Wilinski v 334 E. 92nd Hous. Dev. Fund Corp., 18 NY3d 1, 11 [2011] ).  Plaintiff testified that, while disassembling a sidewalk bridge, he was injured by a horizontal pipe that fell while a coworker disconnected it from a vertical post.  However, in his workers' compensation claim form, plaintiff identified a “[v]ertical support pipe” as the object that struck him, and in his deposition testimony he expressed confusion between the words “vertical” and “horizontal.”  This inconsistency raised a triable issue as to the identity of the object that struck him.  Moreover, if the object was a vertical pipe or post, a further issue of fact exists as to whether it was a target of disassembly at the time of plaintiff's accident (see Abad v Brookfield Props.  OLP Co. LLC, 190 AD3d 471, 471 [1st Dept 2021] ).  In addition, there are factual issues regarding whether there was a safety device that would have prevented the accident (see Palermo v. 7 W. 21 LLC, 192 AD3d 560, 561 [1st Dept 2021] ).