Partner Cheryl Fuchs and associate Alicia Sklan obtained summary judgment in a Bronx County Labor Law case.  In DaSilva v. Structural Preservation Systems, LLC, the plaintiff was straddling between the outside of a scaffold frame and the wall of a building when he claims a gust of wind shook the scaffold causing him to fall.  Plaintiff alleged that the scaffolding installed by our client was unstable.

We moved to dismiss the Labor Law claims on the basis that our client (the scaffolding contractor) was not the owner, general contractor, or agent, and did not direct or control plaintiff’s work.  We also argued that plaintiff’s common-law negligence claim should be dismissed, as plaintiff could not identify a defect that existed with the scaffolding upon installation.  The court agreed, and highlighted the deposition testimony of plaintiff’s co-worker and the general contractor’s foreman which established that parts of the scaffold were moved around during the course of work, and that it was not until the scaffold was altered in this way that any alleged instability issues arose.

Since the court found that our client was not negligent, it also dismissed the common law indemnification claims.  Finally, as to the contractual indemnification claim, our client’s contract required it to indemnify the general contractor for claims “arising out of or resulting from or in connection with execution of work hereunder.”  The court held that since there was no “showing of a particular act or omission in the performance of [our client’s] work, causally related to the accident,” the contractual indemnification claim had to be dismissed as well.  Thus, we obtained a complete dismissal for our client.

For any questions about this case, feel free to contact ">.