This article examines the recent Court of Appeals decision in Stoneham v. Joseph Barsuk (__NY3d __, 2023 NY Slip Op. 06467 [Dec. 19, 2023]), which addresses whether the plaintiff, who was injured when a flatbed trailer fell on him while he was working on the trailer’s brakes, was engaged in the type of “repairing” activity that is covered by Labor Law §240(1). The case should be of interest to practitioners for the implications of the specific holding. However, it also provides a broader lesson on stare decisis, which is the primary focus of this article.
By way of background, Labor Law §240(1) obligates contractors and property owners to protect the safety of workers engaged in height-related activities in a building or structure (see Runner v. New York Stock Exchange, 13 NY3d 599 [2009]). The statute mandates safety devices to protect employees engaged in building, demolition, painting, cleaning, repairing and other enumerated activities. Commonly referred to as the Scaffold Law, Section 240(1) reads in pertinent part:
All contractors and owners and their agents … in the erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning or pointing of a building or structure shall furnish or erect, or cause to be furnished or erected for the purpose of such labor, scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, braces, irons, ropes, and other devices which shall be so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection to a person so employed.
