2/14/2008
Mejia v. Levenbaum
Plaintiff, an employee of TAM Restaurant, claims he was injured when stairs collapsed as he carried a large piece of equipment down the stairs. The insured, Andrew Levenbaum, owned the premises at 3202 Emmons Avenue a/k/a 2901 Bragg Street, Brooklyn, New York. Kathleen M. Mulholland successfully argued to the Appellate Division, First Department, that our client, as an out of possession landlord, had no knowledge of ongoing work on its premises and could not be held liable under Labor Law 200 or under common law negligence theories. Although our insured designed the stairs upon which the plaintiff fell, Ms. Mulholland successfully argued to the Court that the plaintiff did not sufficiently prove a defect in the stairs. Moreover, since the plaintiff was only involved in clean up work at the time of his accident, the Court held that this was not the type of work protected under Labor Law §241(6).

After we prevailed on our appeal and the matter against our client was dismissed, Ms. Mulholland moved for and was granted indemnification from our co-defendants. This award included recovery of past attorney’s fees.