New York Case Law Update

Friday, January 23, 2015 | 0

NEW! Shea v. Bloomberg, 2013-04678, (01/14/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a stagehand should be allowed to proceed with his Labor Law claim for his alleged injuries after he was thrown from the cargo box of a John Deere Gator utility vehicle.

NEW! Matter of Regan v. City of Hornell Police Department, 516451, (01/15/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that a police officer sustained a mental injury arising out of and in the course of his employment from his work at the World Trade Center in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

NEW! Matter of Bennett v. Putnam N. Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services, 518662, (12/31/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a long-time custodian failed to provide his employer with timely notice of his gradual-onset injuries from the repetitive nature of his work, and therefore his claim for benefits was barred.

NEW! Matter of Park v. DiNapoli, 518283, (12/31/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a correction officer's application for performance of duty disability retirement benefits based on his heart problems shouldn't have been denied, although his application was properly denied as to his lung condition.

NEW! Pankiw v. Eastman Kodak Co., 518005, (12/31/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that an employer was not entitled to shift liability for a worker's claim to the Special Fund for Reopened Cases since his case had not yet been "truly closed."

NEW! Matter of Connolly v. Covanta Energy Corp., 518493, (12/31/2014): A New York appellate court reversed an award of benefits to a worker for a pulmonary condition which came from mold exposure that could have happened "anywhere at any time."

NEW! Lleshi v. DAG Hammarskjold Tower, 517539, (12/31/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that an employer's surveillance videos and the testimony of its private investigator did not establish that a claimant had falsely denied working while collecting benefits.

NEW! Lopez v. New York City Department of Environmental Protection, 2013-04265, (12/24/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a construction worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim, as well as the $3 million he had been awarded by a jury for his pain and suffering from his injuries after being impaled by a piece of rebar.

NEW! Matter of Surianello v. Consolidated Edison Co., 9044, (12/24/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that an employer was not entitled to shift any liability for a worker's permanent and totally disabling lung problems to the Special Disability Fund.

NEW! Sirignano v. Jencik, 2013-01872, (12/24/2014): A New York appellate court revived negligence, Labor Law and wrongful death claims against a homeowner arising from the death of a worker who had been hired to cut down trees at the residence.

NEW! Greco v. DiNapoli, 518905, (12/24/2014): A police officer's fall while descending a flight of wooden stairs in order to execute an arrest warrant at a basement apartment did not entitle him to accidental disability retirement benefits, a New York appellate court ruled.

NEW! Pinot v. Straight Line Construction Corp., 518625, (12/14/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a comp carrier could not avoid liability for a claim against its insured based on the insured's alleged underreporting of its payroll.

NEW! Matter of Jesco v. Norampac Manufacturing Co., 518229, (12/24/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker who failed to start a light-duty assignment before the date his doctor had cleared him to resume work didn't voluntarily remove himself from the labor market.

NEW! Mejia v. The Drake Group, 518263, (12/24/2014): A divided New York appellate panel ruled that an employer was entitled to reopen a case by an injured worker in order to conduct discovery into the medical treatment he had received for his injury under an alias.

NEW! Brown v. New York-Presbyterian HealthCare System, 13819 111400/08, (12/23/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker's Labor Law claims premised on an injury he suffered when his leg went through a hole in a flatbed trailer all should have been dismissed on summary judgment.

NEW! LM Business Associates v. State of New York, 1017 CA 13-02050, (01/02/2015): A New York appellate court ruled that the state could not be held liable to a corporation for conversion and negligent misrepresentation based on the execution of a search warrant at its offices in connection with a workers' compensation fraud investigation.

NEW! Matter of Poverelli v. Nabisco/Kraft Co., 518267, (12/18/2014): A New York appellate court upheld the denial of a worker's claim that her knee problems were causally related to a compensable back injury from several decades prior, as well as the imposition of sanctions against the worker's attorney.

NEW! Matter of Beckley v. Nitido, 518861, (12/18/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a police officer was not entitled to disability retirement benefits for his alleged mental injury after learning he had fired his gun at a fellow officer while responding to a call about a bar fight.

NEW! Matter of Diaz v. Kleinknecht Electric, 517828, (12/18/2014): A New York appellate court upheld an arbitrator's determination that a worker became permanently and totally disabled by an industrial injury in April 2003, despite the fact he continued working for another eight years.

NEW! Matter of Kalkbrenner v. Accord Corp., 516777, (12/18/2014): A New York appellate court said it could not review the merits of a pro se litigant's challenge to the denial of her request to add an alleged consequential injury to her established workers' compensation claim based on her procedural error.

NEW! Gammons v. City of New York, 220, (12/18/2014): New York's highest court upheld the ability of a police officer, who suffered injuries while loading barricades onto a flatbed truck, to sue her employer in tort pursuant to General Municipal Law Section 205-e.

NEW! Fabiano v. State of New York, 518328, (12/11/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law claim based on his injuries from a fall which occurred when a scaffold board broke beneath him.

NEW! Sarah Manka v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. et al., 08523, (12/04/2014): The estate of a worker who died from ureteral cancer successfully proved a link between the disease and occupational exposure to a known carcinogen and is entitled to death benefits, a New York appellate court ruled.

NEW! Ocampo v. Bovis Lend Lease, 13677 103064/10 590319/10, (12/04/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a property owner was entitled to summary judgment on a worker's negligence and Labor Law Section 200 claim based on his fall on ice that had formed at the job site.

NEW! Galarza v. City of New York, 2013-08648, (12/03/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a worker who was allegedly injured in a fall at a construction site was not entitled to summary judgment on his Labor Law Section 240(1) claim since there were conflicting accounts as to how his injury had occurred.

NEW! Garcia v. Market Associates, 2013-00670, (12/03/2014): A New York appellate court revived an injured worker's Labor Law Section 200 and negligence claims against a landowner and its construction manager for his injuries after the truck he was driving fell through a concrete slab at the job site.

NEW! Costa v. State of New York, 2014-00634, and Costa v. Sterling Equipment, 2013-08947, (12/03/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that an injured worker could not proceed with one of his Labor Law claims based on an accident when he allegedly fell on a pile of wood when it gave way beneath him.

NEW! Monahan v. Founder's Pavilion, (12/04/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that the death of a claimant during the pendency of a carrier's appeal of an order to pay a lump sum into the state aggregate trust fund does not excuse the carrier from making payment if the appeal is unsuccessful.

NEW! Luebke v. MBI Group, 13553 114861/08, (11/20/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that a property owner and contractor were not entitled to summary judgment on a worker's Labor Law claim based on an accident wherein a glass door had fallen on him.

NEW! Mayer v. Conrad, 1043 CA 14-00281, (11/21/2014): A New York appellate court ruled that two property owners were not entitled to summary judgment dismissing a Labor Law Section 200 claim filed after a worker died on their property when an embankment collapsed on him.