Munoz v DJZ Realty, LLC

2005 NY Slip Op 05447

Decided on June 29, 2005

Court of Appeals

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on June 29, 2005
No. 169 SSM 15






Submitted by Gordon T. Sakow, for appellant.
Submitted by Frank Gulino, for respondent.


MEMORANDUM:

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs, and [*2]defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 240(1) cause of action granted. The certified question should be answered in the negative.

Plaintiff was injured in a fall while applying a new advertisement to the face of a billboard that sat atop a building owned by defendant. Plaintiff's activities may have changed the outward appearance of the billboard, but it did not change the billboard's structure, and thus were more akin to cosmetic maintenance or decorative modification than to "altering" for purposes of Labor Law § 240(1) (see Joblon v Solow, 91 NY2d 457, 465 [1998]).
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On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.4 of the Rules, order reversed, with costs, defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the Labor Law § 240(1) cause of action granted and certified question answered in the negative, in a memorandum. Chief Judge Kaye and Judges G.B. Smith, Ciparick, Rosenblatt, Graffeo, Read and R.S. Smith concur.
Decided June 29, 2005