Dairy Farmer Not Liable for Injuries of Cement Truck Driver Under Statute Imposing Faultless Liability for Construction-Related Injuries.

Defendant, a dairy farmer, contracted with a cement supplier to have cement delivered to his property for the construction of a bunk silo. An employee of the supplier delivered the cement in a truck owned by the supplier. After delivering the cement, the employee drove the truck to another area of the defendant’s property so that he could wash the truck. While washing the truck the employee fell from a ladder on the truck, into a ditch. The employee filed an action against the defendant, seeking to hold him liable for the injuries under N.Y. Labor Law §240(1), which provided rights to certain workers and imposed liability on owners having nothing to do with the accident where the worker was employed in the “erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning, or pointing of a building or structure. The defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, which the trial court denied, in part. On appeal, the court reversed, finding that the activity in which the employee was engaged was not the kind of activity for which the legislature sought to impose liability. The employee was engaged in the routine maintenance of his cement truck, not engaged in “construction work” under the meaning of the statute when he fell. Bish v. Odell Farms Partnership, No. 568 CA 13-01811, 2014 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4969, 2014 NY Slip Op 5063 (N.Y. App. Div. 4th Dep't Jul. 3, 2014).