Building owners dread the strict liability imposed by New York’s Labor Law, but a court recently used common sense in finding that it did not apply to a claim by an impatient cable worker.  In Miller v. Webb of Buffalo, LLC, plaintiff was hired to perform cable installation work at a building that was undergoing renovation and conversion into commercial and residential space. He was instructed to run a ground wire from a room on the first floor to a lockbox on the exterior of the building. He was unable to locate anyone with a key to the building and therefore used a ladder to enter the first floor room through a window.

While the plaintiff was completing his work inside the room, his coworkers removed the ladder. According to the plaintiff, his coworkers told him the ladder would be returned in a couple of minutes, and he decided to straddle the first floor windowsill while he waited for the ladder. As he was on the windowsill, the plaintiff leaned out to say something to his coworkers, lost his balance, and fell to the ground below.

The Court noted that the defendants established there was no causal relationship between any duties owed by them to the plaintiff pursuant to the Labor Law or the common law and the injuries plaintiff sustained, and that the defendants could not reasonably have foreseen that a person in the plaintiff’s circumstances would not wait inside the building for the ladder to be returned.

The Court further highlighted that before the plaintiff chose to straddle the windowsill, he was “not in an emergent situation but was in a position of absolute safety, despite being inconvenienced.” He was aware the ladder would be returned when he decided to put his safety at risk by straddling the windowsill, and the Court stated the plaintiff’s conduct thus superseded any alleged breach of duty by the defendants and terminated the defendants‘ liability for the plaintiff’s injuries.

Thanks to Betsy Silverstine for her contribution to this post and please write to Mike Bono for more information.