The Labor Law, again.

Plaintiff was hired to rewire defendants' telephone system, and, while he was running wires in an attic crawl space, plaintiff fell through a sheet rock ceiling in the office below. He commenced this action to recover damages for personal injuries allegedly arising from violations of Labor Law §§ 200, 240, and 241, and common-law negligence.

The Second Department found that plaintiff's work involved an elevation-related risk within the purview of Labor Law § 240(1), and reinstated the complaint, in Becker v. ADN Design, which was decided on November 20, 2007. The court gave short shrift to defendant's arugment that plaintiff was engaged in mere routine maintenance, saying that, in fact, the work clearly was "altering," within the meaning of the statute.

The court declined plaintiff's invitation to search the record and grant him summary judgment, however, finding issues of fact as to, among other things, whether plaintiff's own conduct was the sole proximate cause of his injuries.