Josh Kardisch Wins Reversal Of Summary Judgment In Labor Law § 240(1) Case In Fourth Department

On February 2, 2018, Josh H. Kardisch won the reversal of summary judgment for plaintiff in the Appellate Division, Fourth Department in Bonczar v. American Multi-Cinema, Inc., et al, 2018 NY Slip Op 00712 (4th Dept. 2018). The plaintiff claimed to have sustained injuries after falling from a ladder in a movie theater which defendant owned. The lower court granted plaintiff summary judgment on his claim for violation of Labor Law § 240 (1). The Appellate Division, Fourth Department reversed the decision and found an issue of fact requiring a trial because the “plaintiff did not know why the ladder wobbled or shifted, and that he acknowledged that he might not have checked the positioning of the ladder or the locking mechanism, despite having been aware of the need to do so.” For that reason, the Court held, there is a “plausible view of the evidence – enough to raise a fact question – that there was no statutory violation and that plaintiff’s own acts or omissions were the sole cause of the accident.”