Case Name: Wilfredo Almodovar, Appellant, v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey et al., Respondents, et al., Defendant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 2016-04-21
Citations: 138 A.D.3d 571
Docket Number: 
Parties: Wilfredo Almodovar, Appellant, v Port Authority of New York and New Jersey et al., Respondents, et al., Defendant.
Judges: Concur — Sweeny, J.P., Renwick, Saxe, Gische and Kahn, JJ.
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 138
Pages: 571–571

Head Matter:
Wilfredo Almodovar, Appellant, v Port Authority of New York and New Jersey et al., Respondents, et al., Defendant.
[28 NYS3d 600]

Opinion:
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol R. Edmead, J.), entered July 28, 2014, which granted defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 240 (1) claim, and denied plaintiff's cross motion for partial summary judgment on that claim, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff, a sheet metal apprentice performing duct work, was injured when, while descending a ladder, his pant leg became caught on an unmarked rebar protruding from the concrete floor, causing him to step down from the third rung of the ladder, lose his balance, and fall to the ground. Under these circumstances, dismissal of the Labor Law § 240 claim was proper, as there is no dispute that the ladder was free from defects, and the record shows that plaintiff's fall was not attributable to the kind of extraordinary elevation-related risk that the statute was designed to prevent. Rather, plaintiff's injuries "were the result of the usual and ordinary dangers at a construction site" (Nieves v Five Boro A.C. & Refrig. Corp., 93 NY2d 914, 916 [1999]; see Nicometi v Vineyards of Fredonia, LLC, 25 NY3d 90, 99 [2015]; Cohen v Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Ctr., 11 NY3d 823 [2008]).
Concur — Sweeny, J.P., Renwick, Saxe, Gische and Kahn, JJ.