Freehill Wins Summary Judgment

Freehill partners Will Yost and John Karpousis have successfully had a favorable summary judgment decision and order affirmed on appeal by New York State’s Appellate Division, First Department, on behalf of a general contractor and property owner in a New York Labor Law 240 case. The case involved a fall from a scaffold from a significant height resulting in several back surgeries.  Plaintiff could not identify at his deposition what precisely caused him to fall.  Working with the insured and our liability expert, we were able to  establish that the scaffold was free from defect.  Nevertheless Plaintiff moved for summary judgement and we cross moved.  The trial court (Justice D’Auguste) granted our cross motion, dismissing the plaintiff’s complaint for failure to sustain his very slight burden.  The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed.   Freehill’ s reported to primary as well as excess carriers on the case and our clients were facing a potential exposure of over $5m.  A link to the Appellate Division’s decision is here. A link to Justice D’Auguste’s opinion is here.