Farias v. SimonFarias v. Simon
Lead Opinion
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Barbara Jaffe, J.), entered on or about July 1, 2013, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted the motion of defendants John Douglas Simon, Jr. and Ellen S. Parry (collectively the owners) for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, and denied plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment on his claim pursuant to Labor Law § 240 (1), affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff, a laborer, was injured in a fall from a scaffold while
The owners acquired title to the premises through inheritance in July 2004. They began the renovation in July 2005. Parry’s deposition is unrefuted insofar as she testified that the owners renovated the house for the purpose of modernizing it and using it as their second home. As the renovation was ongoing, the house was unoccupied at the time of plaintiffs injury. The renovation reached the punch list stage in the fall of 2006. Parry testified that the owners, who never occupied the house, decided to lease it out in the spring of 2007 and did so that August.
The owners made a prima facie showing of their entitlement to the homeowner’s exemption by demonstrating that their premises consist of a one-family dwelling and that they did not direct or control plaintiff’s work (see Affri v Basch,
The availability of the homeowner’s exemption hinges upon “the site and the purpose of the work, a test which must be employed on the basis of the homeowners’ intentions at the time of the injury” (Landon v Austin,
Another example of plaintiffs unfounded speculation is his argument that the owners “would not have been able to rent the dilapidated house without undertaking the construction project.” On the contrary, Parry testified that prior to the renovation, the house needed only minor work consisting of painting, cleaning and “a little bit of fixing up” in order for it to be rented, sold or occupied. Without contradiction, Parry also testified that the renovation entailed, among other things, the extension of the house, rewiring, plus the addition of a kitchen, a bedroom, two bathrooms, a mud room and a powder room. According to Parry the cost of the project was approximately $750,000. The renovation, as described, was far more extensive than the relatively minor repairs that would have been needed to prepare the Bronxville house for rental as opposed to personal use.
A reversal is not warranted by the dissent’s view that the owners’ intention to make personal use of the premises “is not readily determinable on a motion for summary judgment.” In Thompson v Geniesse (
We have considered plaintiffs remaining arguments and find them unavailing.
Dissenting Opinion
dissent in a memorandum by Gische,
Defendants own a single family home that was undergoing renovation at the time plaintiff, a workman, was injured. It is undisputed that after Simon acquired ownership of the house through inheritance, neither he nor Parry, nor any other member of their family, lived there. No one lived in the residence during the course of renovation. After the renovation was completed, the residence was rented out to a third party and used solely for commercial purposes.
Labor Law §§ 240 (1) and 241 (6) provide reasonable and adequate protection for workers employed at construction sites by imposing a nondelegable duty on owners, contractors, and their agents to take necessary safety precautions. Both sections 240 (1) and 241 (6) exempt from liability “owners of one and two-family dwellings who contract for but do not direct or control the work” (Khela v Neiger,
In establishing their prima facie case, defendants asserted that at the time of accident in 2005, they had no intention of using the property commercially. While it is defendants’ intended use at the time of the accident that controls the outcome of this inquiry (Davis v Maloney,
To ascertain whether defendants are entitled to the homeowners’ exemption necessarily requires looking into operation of defendants’ thought and decision-making processes. They freely admit that at some point during the renovation they formulated an intent to use the property commercially, but claim that such intent crystalized only after plaintiffs accident. This issue, which necessarily implicates defendants’ state of mind, is not readily determinable on a motion for summary judgment
The record contains evidence calling into question defendants’ intent on the date of the accident, thereby warranting the denial of summary judgment. Since inheriting the property in 2001, defendants have never resided there and it has been used exclusively for commercial purposes. After acquiring ownership, defendants undertook an extensive renovation project on their Manhattan apartment, which remained their only residence. Their deposition testimony concerning their future plans for the property was tentative, speculating that they might live there once their grade school age children were entering high school. Defendants admittedly consulted realtors, considered setting up a “dba” or corporation to hold the property, and purchased a book about renting property, all while the renovation was ongoing, although they could not say when these events actually occurred.
The defendants had numerous discussions with one another about the prospect of renting out the property, but were unable to pinpoint when these conversations began taking place. Defendants were unable to consistently state when they actually formulated the intent to rent out the property. Initially, they claimed they were unsure, but later testified that the decision was made in the spring of 2007. Although defendants cited the unanticipated construction costs as the primary motivation for the decision to rent, written notes and spreadsheets demonstrated that their estimated costs of the renovation were near to the actual costs. All of these facts create a disputed issue regarding defendants’ subjective intent, which should be decided at trial.
Notes
I agree with the majority’s conclusion concerning the inapplicability of Labor Law § 200 and common law negligence.