Filed Date: 5/18/1992
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/31/2024
— In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries, the third-party defendant appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Lama, J.), entered June 20, 1990, which denied its motion for summary judgment dismissing the third-party complaint.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
On February 19, 1988, the plaintiff and Greg Smith, the sole partners of the Long Island Construction Company, were installing shingles on a house in a residential development owned by the defendants Samuel Kiperman and Milton Stein-berg. While working from a scaffold, the plaintiff fell and suffered injuries. Subsequently, the plaintiff commenced an action against Kiperman and Steinberg, as owners of the project, and the defendant Limas Builders, Inc., the project’s general contractor, alleging, inter alia, violations of Labor Law § 240. Thereafter, the defendants commenced a third-party action against the plaintiff’s partnership demanding indemnification and/or contribution for any portion of the injuries caused by the partnership’s negligence. After joinder of issue, the partnership moved for summary judgment dismissing the third-party complaint on the ground that it was in fact an action against the plaintiff. The motion was properly denied.
The duty of the owner and general contractor pursuant to Labor Law § 240 is absolute and is unaffected by any contributory fault or assumption of risk on the part of a workman or independent contractor (see, Zimmer v Chemung County Per