Victor J. Runner, Respondent v. New York Stock Exchange, Inc., Appellants

Summary

The court held that Labor Law § 240 (1) applies when a worker is injured by the direct force of gravity acting on a heavy object descending across a significant elevation differential, even if the object does not strike the worker and the worker does not fall. The makeshift rope-and-bar arrangement failed to provide adequate protection against the reel’s descent, and that failure directly caused the injury. The court answered the first certified question as recast in the affirmative and left the second question unanswered as unnecessary.