New York Construction Accident Lawyer: Why the Scaffold Law Changes Everything
Fall off a ladder on a construction site in New Jersey and you are fighting an uphill negligence case. Fall off the identical ladder on a construction site in New York City and the property owner is strictly liable the moment you prove the safety equipment was missing or inadequate. Your own carelessness is not even a defense. That gap exists because New York is one of the only states in the country with a body of statutory law written specifically to protect construction workers, and it is worth close to nothing if you do not know how to use it.
Labor Law 240(1): the Scaffold Law, in plain terms
Enacted in 1885 and still the most powerful personal injury statute in New York, Labor Law ยง 240(1) imposes absolute liability on property owners, general contractors, and their agents when a worker is injured by a gravity-related hazard and the required safety devices were not provided or failed. The statute names the equipment explicitly: scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, braces, irons, ropes, and similar devices, all of which must be “constructed, placed, and operated to give proper protection” to anyone performing the covered work.
Once you establish a covered activity, a gravity-related injury, and a missing or inadequate safety device that caused it, liability is established. The only remaining question is the size of your damages, not whether the defendant is on the hook.
This is what “absolute liability” actually means in practice: comparative negligence is not a defense. If you were partially careless and the owner still failed to provide adequate fall protection, the owner is fully liable anyway. That single rule is why the median New York construction-related personal injury award runs several times the national median personal injury award.
What Labor Law 240 claims are actually worth
This is not a theoretical statute. In a 2024 Bronx Supreme Court case, a jury returned a $23 million verdict for two construction workers after a ladder-jack scaffold collapsed roughly 20 feet above the ground during a facade renovation in Manhasset, on facts including missing rubber footing, an unattached platform, and no harnesses or lifelines. That case followed the court granting the plaintiffs summary judgment on liability under Section 240(1), meaning the trial was about damages only, not fault.
That is not the ceiling. A 2025 report tracking the top 15 New York personal injury outcomes found they totaled more than $1.1 billion across 2024 and 2025, driven substantially by Labor Law 240 cases. The largest individual outcome in that dataset was a $272.5 million settlement, the largest known crane-collapse recovery in New York history, closing out litigation tied to a 2016 Tribeca crane collapse. A separate $53.5 million Brooklyn construction-fall verdict returned by a Kings County jury in 2023 shows the same pattern at trial rather than settlement. For scale against the ordinary case: the median New York personal injury jury award across all case types sits at roughly $287,628, itself about 8.3 times the reported national median.
The through-line across all of these outcomes is the same absolute-liability structure described above: once a Section 240(1) violation and a gravity-related injury are established, the fight is almost entirely about the size of the damages, not whether the defendant is liable at all. That is precisely why insurers and property owners settle Labor Law 240 cases at what amounts to trial-equivalent value even before a verdict, when the underlying liability picture is already clear.
Who Section 240 protects and who it does not
Labor Law 240(1) protects a much wider group than most injured workers assume:
- Union and non-union construction workers
- Employees of contractors and subcontractors, regardless of tier
- Day laborers
- Workers regardless of immigration status, since status does not affect the right to sue
Your own employer is usually shielded from a direct lawsuit because workers’ compensation is your exclusive remedy against them, unless your employer also happens to be the covered property owner or general contractor. But the property owner and general contractor themselves are not protected just because you were technically employed by a subcontractor down the chain. You can sue both, even if neither one ever signed your paycheck.
What Section 240 does NOT cover
Not every construction site fall triggers strict liability. Section 240(1) is specifically about gravity-related hazards, meaning falls from a height or objects falling onto a worker. Ordinary slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accidents on flat ground at a job site are typically litigated under Labor Law ยง 241(6) and ยง 200 instead, which turn on Industrial Code violations and whether the owner had notice of a dangerous condition. These claims require a different proof strategy and, unlike Section 240, comparative negligence can reduce your recovery.
The deadline that actually matters: CPLR ยง 214
Under New York Civil Practice Law and Rules ยง 214(5), personal injury lawsuits, including Labor Law ยงยง 240, 241, and 200 claims, must generally be filed within three years of the accident date. Three years sounds like plenty of runway. It is not, once you account for how long it actually takes to develop expert witnesses, secure surveillance footage before it gets overwritten, and locate witnesses before they move on from the job.
The 90-day trap: government-owned property
If the accident happened on property owned by New York City, a city agency, the MTA, NYCHA, a public school, or another municipal entity, the standard three-year window does not apply. Instead:
- A Notice of Claim under General Municipal Law ยง 50-e must be filed within 90 days of the accident, with no extensions in most circumstances.
- You must then wait at least 30 days after filing before commencing a lawsuit.
- The lawsuit itself must generally be filed within one year and 90 days of the accident.
Missing the 90-day notice deadline does not reduce your case value. It eliminates your right to sue the city entirely, regardless of how strong your underlying claim is.
Wrongful death claims
If a construction accident results in a fatality, the decedent’s family can pursue a wrongful death claim, which must generally be filed within two years from the date of death, a separate and shorter clock from the underlying personal injury deadline.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sue my employer under Labor Law 240? Generally no, because workers’ compensation is your exclusive remedy against your direct employer. An exception can apply if your employer is also the property owner or general contractor, which is a fact-specific determination.
What if I was partially at fault for the accident? Under Labor Law 240(1), your own comparative fault is not a defense if the owner or contractor failed to provide adequate safety devices and that failure was a cause of your fall. This is different from ordinary negligence claims, including 241(6) and 200 claims, where comparative fault can reduce your recovery.
How long do I have to file if the accident happened on city property? You generally have 90 days to file a Notice of Claim under General Municipal Law ยง 50-e, and then one year and 90 days total to commence the lawsuit. These deadlines are strictly enforced and are far shorter than the standard three-year window.
Does undocumented immigration status affect my right to sue? No. Labor Law 240(1) protects workers regardless of immigration status.
What is a typical Labor Law 240 settlement or verdict actually worth? Outcomes vary widely, but the pattern in reported cases skews high. A 2024 Bronx jury awarded $23 million to two scaffold-collapse victims, a Kings County jury returned $53.5 million in a 2023 construction-fall verdict, and the largest known crane-collapse recovery in New York history settled for $272.5 million. For context, the median New York personal injury jury award across all case types is roughly $287,628.
The bottom line
- Labor Law 240(1), the Scaffold Law, imposes absolute liability on owners and general contractors for gravity-related injuries when safety devices are missing or inadequate
- Comparative negligence is not a defense under Section 240, unlike ordinary negligence claims
- Slip-and-fall accidents on flat ground fall under 241(6) and 200 instead, where fault-sharing rules apply
- The standard deadline is three years under CPLR ยง 214, but city-owned property cuts that to a 90-day notice window
- Your own employer is usually immune from a direct lawsuit, but the property owner and general contractor are not
If you were hurt in a fall or by a falling object on a New York construction site, find out immediately whether the property is privately owned or government-owned. That single fact can shrink your filing window from three years to ninety days.
If a related truck or vehicle was involved in the incident, our 18-wheeler accident lawyer guide and auto accident attorney guide cover how commercial vehicle liability works in other states.
Sources cited in this article: NY Labor Law ยง 240 ยท NY Labor Law ยง 241 ยท CPLR ยง 214 ยท General Municipal Law ยง 50-e ยท New York State Department of Labor ยท Oresky & Associates, $23 million Bronx scaffold collapse verdict ยท AEE Law, $1.1 billion NYC Labor Law 240 payout report ยท JTNY Law, Long Island Labor Law 240 payout data
Ethical Founder Law is not affiliated with any law firm, contractor, or agency named or implied above. This article is general information, not legal advice. Consult a construction accident attorney about your own situation. See our Disclaimer and Editorial Policy.