$800,000 Ladder Fall Settlement in Queens

Ten feet up on a ladder that should never have been in service, a worker was removing old signage from a Queens storefront when the ladder broke apart beneath him. He hit the sidewalk with nothing to break his fall.

Ladder Collapse Outside a Queens Commercial Property

Our client was hired to remove old signage from the exterior of a Queens commercial property — a nail salon that was turning over to a new tenant. Standing on a ten-foot A-frame ladder, he was working at height when the ladder's spreader bars failed and the legs buckled outward. The collapse sent him straight down to the concrete sidewalk below.

The fall caused a comminuted fracture of the left heel, fractures to the right wrist, and a compression fracture of the lumbar spine. Our client required surgery on the calcaneus fracture and spinal stabilization, followed by months of rehabilitation. The heel fracture left permanent nerve damage that limits his ability to walk or stand for extended periods.

Labor Law Protections for Workers at Height in Queens

New York Labor Law §240 imposes strict liability on property owners and general contractors who fail to provide proper safety equipment to workers performing elevation-related tasks. The law does not require proving negligence — only that the safety device provided was inadequate and that the inadequacy was a contributing cause of the injury.

Our attorneys established that the ladder provided to our client was visibly worn, with cracked spreader bars that should have been identified during any basic pre-use inspection. The property owner provided no alternative equipment and conducted no safety assessment before authorizing the sign removal work.

"Labor Law §240 exists because workers at height depend entirely on the equipment they're given. When a property owner hands someone a defective ladder and says 'get up there,' they accept strict liability for what happens next. This ladder had visible damage that any pre-use check would have caught." — Steven Gershowitz, Attorney

$800,000 Settlement for a Queens Ladder Fall

This $800,000 settlement covers calcaneus fracture surgery, spinal stabilization, wrist treatment, extensive rehabilitation, permanent nerve damage in the foot, and the lost earning capacity our client faces as a manual laborer who can no longer stand for extended periods. It holds the property owner strictly liable under New York's scaffold law.

If you fell from a ladder, scaffold, or elevated surface while working, our ladder accident attorneys have decades of experience with Labor Law §240 claims and are ready to review your case.