Falls From Heights (Construction) Lawyers in New York

Gravity does the damage, but a missing guardrail, an unsecured ladder, or a scaffold with no fall arrest is what put you there. Falls are the leading cause of death and catastrophic injury in New York construction, and the law treats them differently from almost every other injury case in the state.

New York Labor Law §240, known as the Scaffold Law, exists precisely for these accidents. When a worker falls because owners and contractors failed to furnish or properly place safety devices, liability is absolute — not “we’ll see what a jury thinks.” That distinction is the whole ballgame in a height case.

What Labor Law §240 requires on a job site

The statute lists the protections owners and contractors must supply: scaffolding, hoists, ladders, slings, braces, ropes, and other devices that give proper protection against elevation-related risks. When those devices are absent, defective, or set up wrong and a worker falls, the owner and general contractor are liable regardless of who else was careless.

• The height differential must be real. The injury has to flow from a gravity-related hazard — falling from an elevation, or being struck by something that fell.
• You must be an eligible worker. Construction, demolition, repair, painting, cleaning, and altering work are covered; routine maintenance often is not.
• The defendant must be the right party. Owners and general contractors carry the non-delegable duty, even if a subcontractor actually built the faulty scaffold.

Why absolute liability changes everything

In an ordinary injury case, a defense lawyer argues you were partly at fault to shrink the payout. Under §240, once you prove the statutory violation caused your fall, your own comparative negligence generally does not cut your recovery. The defense’s escape hatch is narrow: they must prove you were the sole proximate cause — for example, that safety gear was available and you deliberately ignored a direct instruction to use it. We build the record early to close that door.

Two claims, not one

A height case usually runs on two tracks. Workers’ compensation pays medical bills and partial wages no matter who was at fault, but it does not pay for pain and suffering. The third-party Labor Law lawsuit against the owner and general contractor is where you recover full damages. Pursuing both is normal, and the comp lien gets sorted out at the end.

What drives the value of a fall case

• The severity and permanence of the injury — spinal fractures, traumatic brain injury, and multiple surgeries push value up.
• Lost earning capacity, especially for a worker who cannot return to the trades.
• Future medical and life-care needs.
• How cleanly the §240 violation is documented before the site changes.

Evidence disappears fast on an active site. Scaffolds get moved, ladders vanish, and witnesses scatter to other jobs. The sooner we photograph the scene, preserve the equipment, and lock down testimony, the stronger the case. Undocumented workers are fully protected under New York law — immigration status is not a defense and does not bar recovery.

See our construction accident overview, our breakdown of Labor Law §240, and scaffold accidents. To talk with a partner about your fall, contact us.