LOBELLO v. BFI WASTE SYSTEMS OF NORTH AMERICA INC (2006)

 Plaintiffs commenced this action to recover damages for injuries they sustained during the course of their employment while they were loading trash into a dumpster supplied to their employer by defendant.   Supreme Court properly granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.   With respect to the negligence causes of action, defendant established that it owed no duty of care to plaintiffs as a matter of law (see Espinal v. Melville Snow Contrs., 98 N.Y.2d 136, 138-140, 746 N.Y.S.2d 120, 773 N.E.2d 485;  see also Palka v. Servicemaster Mgt. Servs. Corp., 83 N.Y.2d 579, 585-587, 611 N.Y.S.2d 817, 634 N.E.2d 189;  Morgan v. Whitestown Am. Legion Post No. 1113, 309 A.D.2d 1222, 765 N.Y.S.2d 106).   Defendant also established its entitlement to summary judgment dismissing the strict products liability and breach of warranty causes of action, and plaintiffs failed to raise a triable issue of fact (see generally Zuckerman v. City of New York, 49 N.Y.2d 557, 562, 427 N.Y.S.2d 595, 404 N.E.2d 718).   Defendant established as a matter of law that the dumpster was not defective (see Cleary v. Reliance Fuel Oil Assoc., Inc., 17 A.D.3d 503, 506, 793 N.Y.S.2d 468, affd. 5 N.Y.3d 859, 807 N.Y.S.2d 11, 840 N.E.2d 1024;  see generally Robinson v. Reed-Prentice Div. of Package Mach. Co., 49 N.Y.2d 471, 479-480, 426 N.Y.S.2d 717, 403 N.E.2d 440);  that there was no duty to warn of the risks inherent in lifting heavy loads of trash into the dumpster (see Liriano v. Hobart Corp., 92 N.Y.2d 232, 241-242, 677 N.Y.S.2d 764, 700 N.E.2d 303;  Gian v. Cincinnati Inc., 17 A.D.3d 1014, 1016, 794 N.Y.S.2d 215);  and that the dumpster was fit for the ordinary purposes for which it was used (see Butler v. Interlake Corp., 244 A.D.2d 913, 915, 665 N.Y.S.2d 192;  see generally Denny v. Ford Motor Co., 87 N.Y.2d 248, 258-259, 639 N.Y.S.2d 250, 662 N.E.2d 730, rearg. denied 87 N.Y.2d 969, 642 N.Y.S.2d 198, 664 N.E.2d 1261).

It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously affirmed without costs.

MEMORANDUM: