Case Name: Cedric Lawrence, Appellant, v. Forest City Ratner Companies, Defendant, and Herbert Construction Corp., Respondent and Third-Party Plaintiff. Argus Construction Corporation, Third-Party Defendant-Respondent. (And Another Action.)
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 2000-01-27
Citations: 268 A.D.2d 380
Docket Number: 
Parties: Cedric Lawrence, Appellant, v Forest City Ratner Companies, Defendant, and Herbert Construction Corp., Respondent and Third-Party Plaintiff. Argus Construction Corporation, Third-Party Defendant-Respondent. (And Another Action.)
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 268
Pages: 380–381

Head Matter:
Cedric Lawrence, Appellant, v Forest City Ratner Companies, Defendant, and Herbert Construction Corp., Respondent and Third-Party Plaintiff. Argus Construction Corporation, Third-Party Defendant-Respondent. (And Another Action.)
[701 NYS2d 429]

Opinion:
—Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Bertram Katz, J.), entered April 29, 1998, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by plaintiff's brief, denied his motion for partial summary judgment, unanimously modified, on the law, to the extent of granting the motion as against defendant Herbert Construction Corp., and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff's deposition testimony, which indicated that he fell 16 feet from the scaffold upon which he was working when it broke in two and he was thrown against a wall, was sufficient to demonstrate his entitlement to summary judgment on the issue of liability on his Labor Law § 240 (1) claim (Samuel v General Cinema Theaters, 254 AD2d 85; Vanriel v Weissman Real Estate, 262 AD2d 56). To the extent that plaintiff may have failed to lock the wheels of the scaffold, it cannot be said that this was the sole proximate cause of his accident (Weininger v Hagedorn & Co., 91 NY2d 958; cf., Vanriel v Weissman Real Estate, supra). Concur—Sullivan, J. P., Rosenberger, Nardelli, Williams and Friedman, JJ.