Giovengo v. P&L MechanicaGiovengo v. P&L Mechanica
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Louise Gruner Gans, J.), entered November 9, 2000, which granted defendants’ motions for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and all cross claims, unanimously modified, on the law, to deny the motions of defendants P&L Mechanical, Bankers Trust Corp., and Sablons Investors, Inc. with respect to plaintiffs claims for common-law negligence and violation of Labor Law § 200 and to reinstate those claims against those defendants, and to deny the motion of defendant Alpha Mechanical with respect to plaintiffs common-law negligence claim and to reinstate that claim against that defendant, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff was allegedly injured in a fall while performing routine maintenance work as an employee for defendant building owners, Bankers Trust Corp. and Sablons Investors, Inc. Although plaintiffs work was unrelated to the contract work undertaken by defendants P&L Mechanical (P&L), a general contractor, and Alpha, a subcontractor working under P&L, Alpha’s alleged stacking of unbound eight-inch diameter piping in the narrow walkway onto which plaintiff fell, pursuant to directions which, according to the deposition testimony, were issued by the building owners and/or P&L, raises triable issues as to whether Alpha, P&L and the owners breached a common-law duty of care by creating an unsafe condition and as to whether, if such a breach occurred, it was a substantial cause of plaintiffs injury (see, Luisa R. v City of New York,