Justice Robert J. Miller
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PLAINTIFF fell from a ladder while performing construction work at defendants’ three-story, one-family house in Brooklyn. The court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the claims pursuant to Labor Law §§240(1) and 241(6) based on their status as owners of a one- or two-family dwelling. The court noted that defendants’ house is indisputably a one-family private dwelling. In addition, defendants made a prima facie showing that they did not direct or control the work plaintiff was performing. Defendant had testified that he did not give the workers any instructions as to how they were to perform work in the house, and that he did not engage in any conversations with the workers. Defendant also testified that when the workers came back on the second day, he did not give them any instructions as to where to work next. Defendant further testified that the only time he saw the workers was on a few brief occasions when he walked to his office or when downstairs to eat lunch. These observations, the court held, do not constitute supervision of plaintiff’s work under the Labor Law.
