In a decision dated May 21, 2012, Justice Thomas E. Walsh II dismissed those portions of the plaintiff’s complaint against a defendant municipality and project owner sounding in common law negligence and violations of Labor Law §§200 and 240(1). The construction worker plaintiff, age 52 at the time of the accident, alleged that he sustained personal injuries on April 22, 2008, while working in a roadway trench in Orangetown, New York. The plaintiff alleged that on that date, his shovel was contacted by a fallen piece of blacktop, causing bodily injury. The Court granted those portions of the defendant municipality’s summary judgment motion that addressed the plaintiff’s causes of action for common law negligence and pursuant to Labor Law §§200 and 240(1). In addition, the court dismissed outright the entirety of the plaintiff’s claims against two municipal agency defendants that did not own or supervise the subject project, or have notice of the defective condition.

Van Horn v. Town of Orangetown, Index No.: 1157/09 (Rockland Co. Sup. Ct., May 21, 2012)