NO MORE KNOCKING ON THIS DOOR
JFT was lifting a glass-and-metal door onto a truck when the door fell, causing his hand to be crushed (and finger severed).
After a personal injury suit was filed, JFT asked the New York County Supreme Court to find his employer liable for the incident because the latter failed, among other things, to provide an appropriate lifting device as required by New York State law. [Labor Law § 240(1)] When a Supreme Court judge denied that request, JFT appealed to the Appellate Division, First Department, which thought that JFT’s request should have been granted.
The AD1 noted in its decision, that his employer failed to support its claim that the door’s weight was closer to 100-120 pounds and could be “easily lifted,” without a forklift or hoist. And, in any event, the employer's version of the facts wasn’t “material,” given its concession that no lifting devices (as required by law) had been supplied.
The AD1 sure closed the door on that ….
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DECISION