Court Opinion

ID: 9951361
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-15 20:09:27.80658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:39:40.613054
License: Public Domain

Wentland v Future Stewart Partners, LLC
               2024 NY Slip Op 30783(U)
                     March 12, 2024
           Supreme Court, New York County
        Docket Number: Index No. 156865/2023
                  Judge: Paul A. Goetz
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                                                                                                                     INDEX NO. 156865/2023
  NYSCEF DOC. NO. 32                                                                                           RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/12/2024

                                   SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
                                             NEW YORK COUNTY
            PRESENT:             HON. PAUL A. GOETZ                                              PART                              47
                                                                                      Justice
            ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------X   INDEX NO.          156865/2023
             WALTER WENTLAND
                                                                                                 MOTION DATE         10/19/2023
                                                         Plaintiff,
                                                                                                 MOTION SEQ. NO.         001
                                                 -v-
             FUTURE STEWART PARTNERS, LLC,                                                         DECISION + ORDER ON
                                                                                                         MOTION
                                                         Defendant.
            ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------X

            The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 001) 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
            20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31
            were read on this motion to/for                                                       DISMISSAL                        .

            Upon the foregoing documents, it is

                      Defendant, Future Stewart Partners, LLC (“Future”) moves pursuant to CPLR §

            3211(a)(1) and CPLR § 3211(a)(7) to dismiss plaintiff, Walter Wetland’s complaint in its

            entirety. Defendant submits documentary evidence under CPLR § 3211(a)(1) which it argues

            bars plaintiff’s claims under the exclusivity provision of Workers' Compensation Law § 11, by

            establishing that defendant is part of a joint venture with plaintiff’s employer. Defendant argues

            that if plaintiff’s claims are barred by this provision, then the entire complaint must be dismissed

            under CPLR § 3211(a)(7) for a failure to state a cause of action on which relief can be sought.

                                                                      DISCUSSION

                      Under CPLR § 3211(a)(7) “A party may move for judgment dismissing one or more

            causes of action asserted against him on the ground that the pleading fails to state a cause of

            action.” When “considering the sufficiency of a pleading subject to a motion to dismiss for

            failure to state a cause of action under CPLR 3211(a)(7), our well-settled task is to determine

            whether, ‘accepting as true the factual averments of the complaint, plaintiff can succeed upon
             156865/2023 WENTLAND, WALTER vs. FUTURE STEWART PARTNERS, LLC                                           Page 1 of 4
             Motion No. 001

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                                                                                                   INDEX NO. 156865/2023
  NYSCEF DOC. NO. 32                                                                       RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/12/2024

            any reasonable view of the facts stated” (Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. v State, 86 NY2d 307,

            318 [1995]). Further, “[u]nder CPLR 3211(a)(1), dismissal may be appropriately granted only

            where the documentary evidence utterly refutes plaintiff's factual allegations, conclusively

            establishing a defense as a matter of law” (Seaman v Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, 176 AD3d 538,

            538-39 [1st Dept 2019] [internal quotation marks removed]). “An unambiguous written

            agreement can … constitute documentary evidence” (id. at 539).

                   Workers’ Compensation Law § 11 states,

                           The liability of an employer prescribed by the last preceding section
                           shall be exclusive and in place of any other liability whatsoever, to
                           such employee, his or her personal representatives, spouse, parents,
                           dependents, distributees, or any person otherwise entitled to recover
                           damages, contribution or indemnity, at common law or otherwise,
                           on account of such injury or death or liability arising therefrom.

                   “Generally, an injured employee's sole remedy against his or her employer is recovery

            under the Workers' Compensation Law” (Hageman v B & G Bldg. Services, LLC, 33 AD3d 860,

            861 [2d Dept 2006]). “In instances regarding injuries that occur during the course of a plaintiff's

            employment, the … exclusivity provisions of the Workers' Compensation Law may also extend

            to suits brought by a plaintiff against corporations which are the alter egos of, or joint venturers

            with, the corporation which employs the plaintiff” (Hageman v B & G Bldg. Services, LLC, 33

            AD3d 860, 861 [2d Dept 2006]). “A defendant may establish itself as the alter ego of a

            plaintiff's employer by demonstrating that one of the entities controls the other or that the two

            operate as a single integrated entity.” (Salcedo v Demon Trucking, Inc., 146 AD3d 839, 841 [2d

            Dept 2017).

                   To establish that the relationship between two companies represents a joint venture, a

            party must show “acts manifesting the intent of the parties to be associated as joint venturers,

            mutual contribution to the joint undertaking through a combination of property, financial

             156865/2023 WENTLAND, WALTER vs. FUTURE STEWART PARTNERS, LLC                          Page 2 of 4
             Motion No. 001

                                                           2 of 4
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  NYSCEF DOC. NO. 32                                                                      RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/12/2024

            resources, effort, skill or knowledge, a measure of joint proprietorship and control over the

            enterprise, and a provision for the sharing of profits and losses” (Lebedev v Blavatnik, 193 AD3d

            175, 185 [1st Dept 2021]). “A joint venture is “an association of two or more persons to carry out

            a single business enterprise for profit, for which purpose they combine their property, money,

            effects, skill and knowledge” (Kaufman v Torkan, 51 AD3d 977, 979 [2d Dept 2008]).

            “[P]artnership agreement[s], payroll records and tax statements, along with the deposition

            testimony of one of the principals of the joint venture” can be used as evidence to determine that

            a joint venture exists (Mitchell v A.F. Roosevelt Ave. Corp., 207 AD2d 388, 389 [2d Dept 1994]).

            Further, evidence that “[a]n examination of the agreement … discloses that the parties are

            referred to as ‘Joint Venturers' and that the agreement is limited to the project” of performing the

            injury producing work, supports the existence of a joint venture (Fallone v Misericordia Hosp.,

            23 AD2d 222, 225 [1st Dept 1965]).

                   Here, in support of its motion, defendant submits an operating agreement between ADP

            International Americas LLC (“ADPIA”) and AFCO AvPORTS Management LLC (“AvPorts”)

            outlining the terms of the management of defendant LLC (NYSCEF Doc No 21). The operating

            agreement notes that ADPIA and AvPorts entered into a Joint Venture Agreement on April 15,

            2019 (id.). ADPIA and AvPorts entered into this agreement which formed defendant LLC for

            the purpose of obtaining a contract to perform work at Stewart International Airport (id.). It was

            during the performance of this work that plaintiff was injured (NYSCEF Doc No 16 ¶ 5). The

            operating agreement indicates that AvPorts and ADPIA both hold equal membership interests

            and contributed equal capital into the formation of defendant LLC (NYSCEF Doc No 21 at 16).

                   Further, as in Fallone an examination of the agreement indicates that ADPIA and

            AvPorts refer to themselves as joint venturers with the purpose of performing the injury

             156865/2023 WENTLAND, WALTER vs. FUTURE STEWART PARTNERS, LLC                        Page 3 of 4
             Motion No. 001

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  NYSCEF DOC. NO. 32                                                                         RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/12/2024

            producing work. Since it is undisputed that AvPorts was plaintiff’s employer at the time of the

            accident, and since defendant has provided prima facie evidence that AvPorts was in a joint

            venture with ADPIA, which formed defendant LLC, plaintiff’s “employer” through the Workers’

            Compensation Law refers to all members of the joint venture. Therefore, plaintiff’s exclusive

            remedy as against all members of the joint venture is through the Workers’ Compensation Law.

            Thus, as plaintiff’s claims are barred, the complaint must be dismissed for a failure to state a

            cause of action on which relief can be sought.

            Accordingly it is,

                    ORDERED that the defendant’s motion to dismiss is granted in its entirety, with costs and

            disbursements to defendant as taxed by the Clerk of the Court, and the Clerk is directed to enter

            judgment accordingly.

                    3/12/2024
                      DATE                                                        PAUL A. GOETZ, J.S.C.
             CHECK ONE:               X   CASE DISPOSED                  NON-FINAL DISPOSITION

                                      X   GRANTED             DENIED     GRANTED IN PART             OTHER

             APPLICATION:                 SETTLE ORDER                   SUBMIT ORDER

             CHECK IF APPROPRIATE:        INCLUDES TRANSFER/REASSIGN     FIDUCIARY APPOINTMENT       REFERENCE

             156865/2023 WENTLAND, WALTER vs. FUTURE STEWART PARTNERS, LLC                         Page 4 of 4
             Motion No. 001

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