High Court Grants Worker Summary Judgment on Section 240(1) Claim for Fall Down Manhole

A narrow majority of the New York Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled that an asbestos abatement worker who fell through an open manhole was entitled to summary judgment on his Scaffold Law claim, since his carelessness wasn't the sole proximate cause of his accident. Four of the high court's seven judges concluded the failure of the City of New York, the New York City Transit Authority, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide guard rails around the manhole were also to blame, and since they had not provided Raul Barreto with adequate fall prote...