New York’s Object Of The Work Exception In Falling Object Cases

New York’s courts in a few recent decisions have eroded the protection that Labor Law 240 provides to New York construction workers and now will leave injured construction workers without a remedy for their personal injuries. Our New York construction accident lawyers are committed to expanding and protecting the laws which protect New York’s construction workers who sustain personal injuries on job site accidents.

Traditionally, New York’s Labor Law 240 required protection from falling objects and a construction worker who was injured because of a falling object could sue the site owner or a general contractor for their injuries. Now the Court of Appeals held that where the object of the work is to cause an object to fall, there is no Labor Law 240 violation, not withstanding that Labor Law 240 requires that proper protection be provided. This tends to occur during demolition, however, where the construction or demolition causes something to fall which was not the object of the work, there is still Labor Law 240 protection. For example, where one wall is being demolished, but it hits another wall or pole the demolition of which was not the object of the work and that wall or pole falls, there would be a Labor Law 240 violation.

However, New York’s construction injury attorneys should continue to look to Labor Law 241 and the New York Industrial Code for rule violations which can be used to protect New York’s construction workers. At this point, it is uncertain as to whether the Courts will continue to expand this exception to other types of construction accidents.