SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

89 

CA 16-00985 

PRESENT: CARNI, J.P., LINDLEY, NEMOYER, TROUTMAN, AND SCUDDER, JJ. 

 

JOSEPH T. GRABAR AND CAROL A. GRABAR, 

PLAINTIFFS-RESPONDENTS, 

V MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

 

NICHOLS, LONG & MOORE CONSTRUCTION CORP., 

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. 

 

BARCLAY DAMON LLP, BUFFALO (TYSON R. PRINCE OF COUNSEL), FOR

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. 

MAXWELL MURPHY, LLC, BUFFALO (ALAN D. VOOS OF COUNSEL), FOR

PLAINTIFFS-RESPONDENTS. 

 

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Erie County (Timothy

J. Drury, J.), entered January 20, 2016. The order, insofar as

appealed from, denied that part of the cross motion of defendant for

summary judgment dismissing the complaint with respect to the Labor

Law § 240 (1) claim. 

It is hereby ORDERED that the order insofar as appealed from is

unanimously reversed on the law without costs, defendant’s cross

motion is granted in its entirety, and the complaint is dismissed. 

Memorandum: Plaintiffs commenced this Labor Law and common-law

negligence action seeking damages for injuries sustained by Joseph T.

Grabar (plaintiff) when the trailer on which plaintiff was standing

tipped, and he fell. Plaintiff was on the bed of the trailer in order

to place fuel in a welder that was located on the trailer, and it is

undisputed that the trailer bed was approximately 20 inches from the

ground. We agree with defendant that Supreme Court erred in denying

that part of its cross motion for summary judgment dismissing the

complaint with respect to the section 240 (1) claim, and we therefore

reverse the order insofar as appealed from, grant the cross motion in

its entirety, and dismiss the complaint. 

We conclude that the trailer “did not present the kind of

elevation-related risk that the statute contemplates” (Toefer v Long

Is. R.R., 4 NY3d 399, 408; see Amantia v Barden & Robeson Corp., 38

AD3d 1167, 1168). Indeed, the injured plaintiff in Tillman v Triou’s

Custom Homes (253 AD2d 254, 257) fell from the truck bed on which he

was working after it tipped due to flat tires, and we held that the

Labor Law § 240 (1) cause of action should have been dismissed. 
-2- 89 

CA 16-00985 

We reject plaintiffs’ contention that our determination in Doyle

v Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. (2 AD3d 1404) compels a different result. 

We take judicial notice of our records in that appeal and note that we

agreed with Supreme Court that the plaintiff should have been provided

with a ladder in order to tighten a coupling located above a tar

kettle, rather than standing on the top of the tar kettle onto which

tar had leaked, causing him to slip and fall. Here, however,

plaintiff was not engaged in a task that entailed “a significant risk

inherent in [it] because of the relative elevation at which the task

must be performed” (Rocovich v Consolidated Edison Co., 78 NY2d 509,

514). Labor Law § 240 (1) is applicable when “[t]he contemplated

hazards are those related to the effects of gravity where protective

devices are called for either because of a difference between the

elevation level of the required work and a lower level or a difference

between the elevation level where the worker is positioned and the

higher level of the materials or load being hoisted or secured”

(Rocovich, 78 NY2d at 514; cf. Hyatt v Young, 117 AD3d 1420, 1420;

Potter v Jay E. Potter Lbr. Co., Inc., 71 AD3d 1565, 1566-1567),

neither of which is present here. 

Entered: February 10, 2017 Frances E. Cafarell

Clerk of the Court