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Apartment cooperatives responsibility in the law for repair & ladder accidents

What is a Cooperative?

Apartment buildings where residents own a share of a corporation whose main asset is the building they live in. Cooperative apartments are generally harder to finance and harder to sell than condominiums.

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Labor Law §240 continues to cause headaches for cooperatives. In Pastrana v. 300 Central Park West Apartments Corp., NYLJ 12/21/00, p. 30, c. 3 (Civ. Ct. NY Co.), an apartment owner hired a contractor to do renovations, who hired an employee to do the work. This employee fell off a ladder while stripping molding off the ceiling inside the apartment. Although the renovation was only on a single apartment, and the cooperative had no connection with the employee, the cooperative is liable to the employee for his injuries under Labor Law §240.

The apartment owner is exempt from liability, despite having hired the contractor whose employee was up on the ladder. The contractor is not liable either, due to workers’ compensation. As only the cooperative was liable, this case demonstrates that cooperatives should be insured for incidents such as this. In addition, an alteration agreement with an indemnity clause is important, so that the liability can be transferred back to the owner.

In this case, the employee's suit against the owner was dismissed but the cooperative's claim against the owner under the alteration agreement survived. Thus, this case shows the need for an alteration agreement even for very minor work. For more legal information concerning Apartment cooperatives contact our Queens New York Premises Liability Lawyers.