In a decision dated June 17, 2016, Justice Mitchell J. Danziger granted the summary judgment motion of our client, the New York City School Construction Authority, dismissing the second-third party plaintiff’s complaint in its entirety. The plaintiff sought damages for personal injuries allegedly sustained when he fell down a flight of exterior stairs on the Webster Avenue side of PS 85 in the Bronx. The second-third party plaintiff, Temco Service Industries, Inc., commenced an action against the SCA for contribution and common law indemnification. Specifically, Temco claimed that the SCA commissioned significant structural work at PS 85 at or around the time of the accident, which led to the plaintiff’s accident. In dismissing the second third-party complaint, the Court found that the SCA submitted sufficient evidence in admissible form indicating that the scope of the work performed by the SCA did not extend to the stairwell where the plaintiff’s accident occurred. Accordingly, the SCA did not owe the plaintiff any duty and did not launch a force or instrument of harm. The Court rejected Temco’s argument that the SCA neglected its duty to identify possible dangerous pre-existing conditions and design defects.

Williams v. City of New York et al., Index No. 22225/2004 (Bronx Co. Sup. Ct., June 17, 2016)