The court found the defendants were owners of a construction site where a fatal accident occurred, and could not use a provision of the workers compensation law to bar the decedent estates claims. Halmar International owned a construction site located in Maybrook, New York. The site was being used for the construction of a concrete mockup of an aqueduct in preparation for construction work on an aqueduct in Gardiner, New York. On December 2, 2013, Scott Winkler, a concrete pump operator was transferring concrete into the forms of a model aqueduct at the Maybrook site. The operator was standing atop a scaffold that was part of the form. Without warning the form and scaffold collapsed throwing the operator to the ground. The scaffolding, contents of the form, and wet cement fell on top of the operator resulting in his death.
The Winkler estate sued under the New York state labor law which required owners and contractors to provide reasonable and adequate protection and safety for construction workers. The City of New York and the DEP argued that they were not owners of the construction site within the meaning of the scaffold law and were not liable.
In October 2019, New York Supreme Court Judge Margaret Chan entered partial summary judgment for the estate on their Scaffold law and unsafe work site claims. On appeal the Appellate Division, First Department, held that the City of New York and the DEP were owners of the construction site within the meaning of the scaffold law and statue requiring owners and contractors to provide reasonable and adequate protection and safety for construction workers. Although the City of New York and the DEP were not the title owners of the property where the accident occurred, they had an interest in the site and fulfilled the role of owner by contracting to have the work performed.
Winkler v. Halmar Int’l, LLC, 2021 NY Slip Op 06569, 199 A.D.3d 598, 159 N.Y.S.3d 20 (App. Div. 1st Dept.)
By: Jason Messinger (Jason is a New York Law School student, Class of 2023.)