LEZCANO v. A.J. Contracting Company, Inc., Defendant. (2004)

Amended judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Jacqueline W. Silbermann, J.), entered February 11, 2004, which, after a jury trial, awarded plaintiffs damages in accordance with CPLR article 50-B, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

 There was unrebutted testimony at trial that plaintiff Secundino was injured when he fell from a scaffold not equipped with guardrails or other protective devices.  Labor Law § 240(1) imposes absolute liability on owners, contractors and their agents for any breach of the statutory duty that proximately causes a plaintiff's injury in these circumstances (Panek v. County of Albany, 99 N.Y.2d 452, 457, 758 N.Y.S.2d 267, 788 N.E.2d 616 [2003] ), a duty that is nondelegable (Ross v. Curtis-Palmer Hydro-Elec. Co., 81 N.Y.2d 494, 500, 601 N.Y.S.2d 49, 618 N.E.2d 82 [1993] ).   The failure of any party to produce another witness to the event is no basis for denying a directed verdict as to liability, absent a bona fide issue, based on more than speculation, as to the injured party's credibility (Urrea v. Sedgwick Ave. Assoc., 191 A.D.2d 319, 595 N.Y.S.2d 46 [1993] ).   Defendants' liability was established as a matter of law by clear evidence that the injured worker had been provided a scaffold without guardrails or other protective devices that might have prevented his fall (see Morrison v. City of New York, 306 A.D.2d 86, 759 N.Y.S.2d 863 [2003] ).

The jury's monetary awards do not deviate from what is reasonable compensation under the circumstances.