| Gadani v Dormitory Auth. of State of N.Y. |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 03286 [50 AD3d 1303] |
| April 11, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Third Department |
| John Gadani et al., Appellants-Respondents, v Dormitory Authorityof the State of New York et al., Defendants, and DeBrino Caulking Associates, Inc.,Respondent-Appellant. (And a Third-Party Action.) |
—[*1] Ainsworth, Sullivan, Tracy, Knauf, Warner & Ruslander, Albany (Elizabeth M. Dumas ofcounsel), for respondent-appellant.
Spain, J. Cross appeals from an order and judgment of the Supreme Court (Teresi, J.),entered February 1, 2007 in Albany County, upon a verdict rendered in favor of plaintiffs.
This personal injury action, involving a slip and fall in a snow covered parkinglot/construction zone during the renovations of Court of Appeals Hall in the City of Albany,previously has been before this Court (43 AD3d 1218 [2007]). At the time of his accident,plaintiff was employed as a mason by Marinello Construction Company, a subcontractor hired tocomplete the concrete and masonry work for the renovation project. Defendant DeBrinoCaulking Associates, Inc. (hereinafter defendant) was the prime contractor hired by the owner of[*2]the property, defendant Dormitory Authority of the State ofNew York (hereinafter DASNY). Defendant BBL Construction Services, LLC was theconstruction manager for the project and defendant August Bohl Contracting Company had contracted toremove snow in the main access areas.
Plaintiff, and his wife derivatively, commenced a lawsuit against DASNY, BBL, defendantand others, and defendant brought cross claims against all other defendants (see id. at1219). Following discovery, in May 2006, several defendants, including DASNY and BBL,moved for summary judgment dismissing all claims against them and Supreme Court granted themotion in its entirety. Defendant appealed from the order to the extent that it granted summaryjudgment to DASNY and BBL. After defendant unsuccessfully sought a stay from SupremeCourt pending a decision on the appeal, a trial proceeded solely against defendant. A jury verdictwas rendered in February 2007 in favor of plaintiffs and judgment was entered in the amount of$214,000. Subsequently, in September 2007, this Court rendered a decision on defendant'sappeal, partially reversing the order of Supreme Court, and reinstating the cross claims ofdefendant against DASNY and BBL (id.). Plaintiffs now appeal from so much of the juryverdict as denied plaintiff future damages, and defendant cross-appeals, seeking, along with otherrelief, a retrial on all issues relating to liability in light of the fact that DASNY and BBL wereerroneously granted summary judgment prior to trial.
We must reverse and order a new trial. Although plaintiff did not appeal the dismissal of hiscomplaint against DASNY and BBL and, thus, would not have an independent right to recoverfrom them at this juncture, defendant did appeal and thus preserved his right to claimcontribution and/or indemnification from those defendants. Our case law recognizes that, in theinterest of justice, a verdict rendered against a sole defendant where the case should have beentried against multiple defendants cannot stand (see Rocco v Dickstein, 49 AD2d 649,649-650 [1975]; Bartholomew v New York Tel. Co., 35 AD2d 767, 768 [1970]; Trollv Schoonmaker Bros., 34 AD2d 1030, 1031 [1970]; Robinson v Terminal Frgt.Transp., 2 AD2d 510, 512 [1956]; see also Camillo v Olympia & York Props. Co.,157 AD2d 34, 44-45 [1990]). In Robinson v Terminal Frgt. Transp. (supra), forexample, all but one of the defendants in a motor vehicle accident action had obtained a juryverdict in their favor. The other defendant, Edward Gay, had been granted a directed verdict inhis favor by the court. After analyzing only the directed verdict, we held that the trial court erredin granting judgment to Gay. However, we ordered a new trial against all defendants because"[t]o require Gay to be the sole defendant at this trial would throw the case out of properperspective. . . . In the interests of justice, the case against the defendants other thanGay should be re-evalued by the same jury who pass upon the case against Gay" (id. at512). Defendant's right to seek contribution from BBL or DASNY in a separate trial will notsufficiently protect defendant's rights, as the verdict against defendant may well have beenimpacted by the fact that it was the sole defendant placed before the jury (see Camillo vOlympia & York Props. Co., 157 AD2d at 44-45). Further, as a practical matter, a trial solelyon apportionment of the jury verdict between defendant, BBL and DASNY would deprive BBLand DASNY of the opportunity to challenge the amount of damages to be apportioned and toargue comparative fault by plaintiff John Gadani. Under these unique circumstances, we holdthat the verdict must be set aside and a new trial ordered against defendant, BBL and DASNY.
Mercure, J.P., Rose, Lahtinen and Kavanagh, JJ., concur. Ordered that the order andjudgment is reversed, on the law, without costs, and matter remitted to the Supreme Court for anew trial.