BONGHI v. NEW YORK TELEPHONE COMPANY (2000)

 Supreme Court properly granted defendants' cross motion for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 240(1) cause of action.   Plaintiff, a cable television maintenance technician, was injured when he fell from a ladder that had been positioned against a utility pole owned jointly by defendants.   Plaintiff had been dispatched to repair a cable line.   At the time of the accident, he was connecting the cable line to the utility pole when a truck struck the cable line that was dangling across the roadway, pulling plaintiff backwards off the ladder.   Although the utility pole is a structure within the meaning of section 240(1) (see, Lewis-Moors v. Contel of N.Y., 78 N.Y.2d 942, 943, 573 N.Y.S.2d 636, 578 N.E.2d 434), defendants are not liable under that section “because they are not ‘owners' of the television cable line being repaired or altered by plaintiff at the time of the accident (see, Labor Law § 240[1] ), and did not otherwise act in the capacity of an owner (see, Mangiameli v. Galante, 171 A.D.2d 162, 164, 574 N.Y.S.2d 842)” (Fuller v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., 213 A.D.2d 986, 987, 625 N.Y.S.2d 108, lv. denied 86 N.Y.2d 708, 634 N.Y.S.2d 442, 658 N.E.2d 220;  see, Ray v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., 256 A.D.2d 1070, 682 N.Y.S.2d 758).

Order unanimously affirmed without costs.

MEMORANDUM: