$1.3 Million Settlement: Painter Fell From Ladder at Staten Island School After Contractor Refused to Provide an Assistant

The client had been a union painter since 1990. In the summer of 2012, his employer sent him to paint five bathrooms at a Staten Island public school. The ceilings in those bathrooms ran 13 to 14 feet high, with tile extending to seven feet; all painting above the tile required a 12-foot A-frame ladder. For the first two bathrooms, the general contractor assigned him an assistant whose only task was to steady the base of the ladder. Once those rooms were done, the contractor pulled the assistant and did not replace him.

The painter asked repeatedly for help. He went to his own boss. He went to the general contractor's foreman. Both told him no. On August 11, 2012, working alone in the fifth bathroom, he was midway up the ladder sanding the wall when it shifted beneath him. He fell to the floor. The injuries to his foot were severe enough that blood clots developed before surgeons could operate. The repair ultimately required a fusion of the joint.

The firm filed suit against the property owner and the general contractor under New York Labor Law Section 240, the scaffold law, which imposes strict liability on owners and contractors when a worker falls from an elevation due to inadequate safety measures. The defense seized on language in the painter's own account of the accident: he had said he 'lost his balance.' Defense counsel argued that phrase meant the fall was caused by the worker's own equilibrium, not any failure by the contractor, and the trial court denied the firm's summary judgment motion on that basis.

Adam Orlow, Senior Trial Partner, took the appeal. His argument was that the absence of a ladder holder was the statutory violation, and the contractor's foreman confirmed it: under oath, the foreman acknowledged the painter had asked for an assistant on multiple occasions and had been turned down each time. Whether the client also lost his balance at the moment of the fall was beside the point, because he was working alone on a tall ladder only because the contractor refused his requests for help. Even the defense's own examining doctor agreed the foot injuries were severe.

The defense insurer offered $577,000 before mediation. The firm rejected that figure and pressed forward. The case settled for $1.3 million, more than double the initial offer.