ADDITIONAL CASES Citigroup Technology, Inc. Plaintiff v. Titan Industrial Services Corp., Defendant; Third-Party 595462/2019 The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 002) 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 were read on this motion to/for PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT. DECISION + ORDER ON MOTION Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on his Labor Law §240(1) claim is granted. Defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s Labor Law §§240(1), 200, 241(6), 240(2) and 240(3) claims is denied. Background This Labor Law action concerns an accident involving plaintiff on May 16, 2018. Plaintiff was working for third-party Titan Industrial Services Corp. (“Titan”) at a demolition job in Manhattan. Defendant owned the building where plaintiff was assigned to work. On the day of the accident, plaintiff testified that he was working on cutting ducts in the ceiling, “Those ones that circulate air or the hot air during cold weather” (NYSCEF Doc. No. 77 at 42). Plaintiff insisted that “The foreman said we were going to take out and cut that duct to bring it down from the ceiling” (id. at 44). He explained that “two [coworkers] were cutting and the foreman put me [in] the other room to hold the duct so it wouldn’t come like, inside and it would go down towards the elevator” (id. at 48). Plaintiff explained that the ductwork they were cutting was in the ceiling and there was a wall separating him from his two coworkers (id. at 49-50). The foreman and the other two workers were in the next room cutting the ductwork when the accident happened (id. at 63). Plaintiff insisted that “I had to go up the ladder, like the boss had told me. I had to go up the ladder and get the pipe and press it against the duct so it would not fall towards my side but towards the elevator side” (id. at 65). While standing on the ladder and holding up the pipe, “when they finished cutting [the duct] that came and got me and threw me all the way backwards against the wall with the tube and I fell to the ground” (id. at 76). Defendant argues that the accident did not happen the way that plaintiff insists it did. It attaches the affidavit of one of plaintiff’s coworkers at Titan, Mr. Valverde, who claims he heard the sound of plaintiff falling to the ground (NYSCEF Doc. No. 87, 12). Mr. Valverde adds that he immediately went to check on plaintiff, who told him he was “descending the ladder and jumped the last few rungs of the ladder instead of descending normally, one step at a time” (id. 15). Plaintiff allegedly told Mr. Valverde that he was fine and had simply fallen when he jumped down from the ladder (id.
13, 16). Mr. Valverde insisted that plaintiff returned to work after a forty-minute break and did not complain for the rest of his shift (id.
