Homeowners are free from liability under common law negligence, as well as under Labor Law §§§ 200, 240(1) and 241(6), to a contractor performing work at their residence where their general awareness of the state of the premises is insufficient to impute notice of an unsafe condition and where they did not direct or control the manner in which the plaintiff performed his work, create the allegedly dangerous condition that caused the accident, or provide the plaintiff with any of his materials or equipment.
In Dasilva v Nussdorf , the plaintiff was allegedly injured when he fell from a ladder while painting a cottage located on the defendants’ 16-acre residential estate. The cottage had formerly served as the estate caretaker’s residence and following his departure, was being renovated by the homeowners, who had hired the company that employed plaintiff. Plaintiff testified that the ground on which the ladder was placed was uneven, soft, and filled with debris as a result of ongoing landscaping. The ladder, which plaintiff erroneously believed was owned by defendants, sunk into the ground, causing him to fall.
The lower court granted the summary judgment motion of defendants, dismissing plaintiff’s complaint which alleged violations of Labor Law §§ 200, 240(1), and 241(6), as well as common-law negligence. The court found that the exemption under the Labor Law §§ 240(1) and 241(6) for owners of single and two family houses applied in this instance where the homeowners established that the work being performed directly related to the residential use of the cottage and that they did not direct or control plaintiff’s work.
The court also found that dismissal of the claims pursuant to common law negligence and Labor Law § 200 ( statutory version of the common law duty of an owner to provide employees with a safe place to work ) was appropriate where the homeowners also demonstrated that they did not create the alleged dangerous conditions or have actual or constructive notice of such conditions because they did not own the ladder or provide plaintiff with any of his materials or equipment. With respect to the allegedly uneven and soft ground filled with debris, the defendants established that they did not create the condition and although they may have had general awareness that the ground was uneven and soft, such awareness was insufficient to impute notice of an unsafe condition.
The Appellate Division, Second Department agreed with the ruling of the Supreme Court and accordingly, affirmed its decision regarding the dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint.
Thanks to Lauren Tarangelo for her contribution.