$3.375 Million Recovery After Painter Was Given the Top Half of a Broken Ladder
A 42-year-old painting foreman was directed by the general contractor's supervisor to climb the top half of a broken extension ladder, a single piece with no base and no proper footing, to finish a ceiling at a Manhattan high-rise. The ladder slipped out from under him. The Orlow Firm pursued the building owner and general contractor under New York's scaffold law. The defense tried to argue our client had brought the broken ladder from somewhere else himself. The Orlow Firm proved otherwise, won summary judgment on liability, and recovered $3.375 million for our client in a damages-only proceeding.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What Happened
Our client was a 42-year-old union taper and painting foreman with twenty years in his local. He was working as a foreman on a new 56-story residential building in Manhattan. On a Friday, the general contractor's supervisor brought him to the penthouse level and directed him to finish a ceiling 17 to 18 feet above the floor. He was given a mechanical lift to do the work and applied three coats of taping compound that day. The compound needed to dry overnight before he could sand and finish. That afternoon, while he was still working, he was told the lift was being taken back. At 5:30 that evening, the carpentry subcontractor called and told him he had to return at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning to finish.
When he arrived Saturday, the lift was gone. The general contractor's supervisor showed him two ladders. One was an eight-foot A-frame, far too short for a 17-foot ceiling. The other was the top half of an extension ladder: a single piece with no base section, no proper footing to grip the floor, and nowhere to tie it off. The bottom half was nowhere to be found, and there were no other ladders, lifts, or scaffolds anywhere on the floor. He was told the work had to be completed immediately. He climbed the broken ladder. After about five minutes, the ladder slid out from under him.
How We Won
Faced with a textbook scaffold-law violation, the defense tried to argue our client had brought the broken ladder from somewhere else himself, that the contractor had not given it to him at all. They also pointed to other equipment in the area and claimed it was available to him.
Adam Moses Orlow, our Managing Partner, presented our client's testimony that the ladders were the only ones available and that the supervisor had pointed him to them directly. There was no evidence anywhere that our client had brought the ladder from elsewhere. The "other equipment" argument also failed. The equipment was being cleared out of the room at the time, and our client had been specifically told he was not allowed to use it without permission from the contractors who owned it. No permission had been given. The court granted us summary judgment on liability under New York's scaffold law. The case became a damages-only proceeding. There was no longer any question of who was responsible. The only question left was how much.
The Injuries
Our client was taken by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital with a compression fracture in his lower back, a fracture of the radial head in his left elbow, and a scaphoid fracture in his left wrist. Imaging in the weeks that followed documented herniations at multiple cervical and lumbar levels and a partial rotator cuff tear in his left shoulder. After conservative treatment failed, he underwent cervical surgery in April 2018 and a multi-level lumbar fusion in October 2018.
The Result
The Orlow Firm recovered $3.375 million in a damages-only proceeding after liability had been established by the court.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a construction accident, contact The Orlow Firm at (646) 647-3398 for a free consultation.
