LCBF secures appellate victory affirming trial court order granting summary judgment in construction accident case

On September 14, 2023, the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division entered a decision affirming the trial court order dismissing Plaintiff’s complaint on the basis that our client did not owe him a duty of care.

Plaintiff’s employer ordered a nearly 900-pound reel of wire from our client, a supplier/distributor of electrical supplies, which was to be delivered to one of Plaintiff’s employer’s jobsites. Our client hired a courier, which had no vehicles with liftgates, to deliver the reel to the jobsite. When the courier arrived at the jobsite, Plaintiff’s supervisor decided to unload the reel manually and asked Plaintiff to assist him. During the unloading, Plaintiff injured his back, which required extensive treatment, including back surgery. Plaintiff alleged that our client was negligent in failing to provide his employer with a mechanical means to unload the reel of wire, failing to deliver the reel in smaller pieces, and inaccurately recording the weight of the reel on delivery documentation.

The trial team, consisting of John Bonventre and Rachel Rubenstein, filed for summary judgment. The trial court agreed with us that our client, as a matter of law, did not owe Plaintiff a duty of care and dismissed Plaintiff’s complaint against our client. Plaintiff appealed this ruling.

Using the strong record our trial team developed, the Appellate Division upheld the trial court’s decision. The Appellate Division explained that the undisputed material facts established that: (1) our client had no relationship with or control over Plaintiff; (2) no one from Plaintiff’s employer had requested that the reel be delivered with a mechanical means for unloading the reel; (3) the courier controlled how the delivery was made; and (4) Plaintiff’s supervisor, not our client, decided that the reel would be unloaded without mechanical assistance. In sum, our client had no control over the jobsite or how the reel was unloaded.

Plaintiff relied heavily on statements made by his supervisor in the accident report, which inaccurately suggested that our client had been asked to deliver the reel in a truck with a lift gate. The Appellate Division agreed with us that those statements were inadmissible hearsay.

The appeal team was headed by Gerald Ford, and Rachel Rubenstein.