Goldberg Segalla partner Colleen M. Murphy successfully briefed and argued an appeal to the New York State Appellate Division, Fourth Department, following the trial court’s denial of summary judgment in a Labor Law Section 240 common-law indemnification and contribution claim brought by the owner of a mobile home park against Goldberg Segalla’s client, which provided the financing for the mobile home.  

The case was a somewhat novel one. On appeal, Colleen argued that, pursuant to a recent Court of Appeals decision (McCarthy v. Turner Constr., Inc., 17 N.Y.3d 369, 377-378), no common-law claim for indemnification or contribution could lie because our client did not actually supervise or control the injured plaintiff’s work, which consisted of siding a mobile home, nor did it supply the ladder from which he fell.

The Fourth Department agreed with Colleen, and on February 10, 2012, the Fourth Department issued a reversal and dismissed the case against our client. This victory sets an important precedent for future cases involving defendants in similar circumstances.