Brady O’Malley and Cary Nosowitz moved for summary judgment in Dutchess County Supreme Court, while simultaneously fending off a series of cross-motions and opposition papers, and won outright dismissal of the plaintiff’s products liability, Labor Law, and common law negligence causes of action, as well as the co-defendants’ claims for common law and contractual indemnification against our client, a glass/mirror distributor and installer. The plaintiff sustained severe, permanent injuries on a construction site in Poughkeepsie, NY, when thousands of pounds of wooden shipping crates of mirrors tipped over and crushed him. The plaintiff alleged our client defectively designed the mirror crates, and negligently shipped and unloaded them. O’Malley and Nosowitz argued (i) the plaintiff’s Labor Law § 200(1) and negligence claims should be dismissed for lack of duty, proximate cause, notice of a dangerous condition, and control over the injury-producing work; (ii) the plaintiff’s Labor Law § 240(1) claim should be dismissed due to a meritless “falling object” theory of statutory liability; (iii) the plaintiff’s Labor Law § 241(6) claim should be dismissed for lack of an Industrial Code violation; (iv) the plaintiff’s products liability claim should be dismissed for insufficient proof of defective design; and (v) the City of Poughkeepsie’s third-party complaint against our client should be dismissed because our client was not negligent as a matter of law. In a long, well-reasoned opinion, Supreme Court agreed on all counts.
O’Malley and Nosowitz win Labor Law MSJ in Dutchess County
