Labor Law 240.

To recover on a cause of action pursuant to Labor Law § 240(1) and (6), a plaintiff must demonstrate that (1) there was a violation of the statute, and (2) the violation was a proximate cause of the accident, or so said the Second Department, in Gittleson v. Cool Wind Ventilation Corp., which was decided on December 26, 2007. The court found that plaintiff's injury was not caused by a statutory violation, but solely by plaintiff's own actions in choosing to use an improperly placed, unopened, and unsecured ladder rather than the one he had brought and used earlier that day. The court also found that plaintiff's injury resulted from his own method of operation, and that defendant had no authority to supervise or control the work, and so no liability attached under Labor Law § 200 or under a common-law negligence theory.