Labor Law Pointers Special Holiday 2022 Edition: 'Twas the Night Before Construction

 
 

 

  Note from David R. Adams:

Happy Holidays to all our readers.  When I write the note for our Special Holiday Edition of Labor Law Pointers, I look at what I wrote the previous year.  Last year, we were still talking about getting “back to normal”—back to the office and doing trials, motions and depositions in person.  Now, a year later, we are almost all the way back and looking forward to better years ahead.
 
As always, I thank our readers for their support and interest over the past years.  We have been doing this for over 11 years now with the first Edition going out on November 2, 2011.  That first Edition covered the just released Wilinske v 334 East 92nd Court of Appeals case which for the first time allowed that the falling object could fall from the same level as the injured plaintiff.  That now is well-settled law and I feel a bit old as a result.
 
From the beginning, the response and feedback from our readers was great.  The strong friendships that have developed from a call with a question or a suggestion are ones that I do not take for granted.  We all work in a business based on an adversarial design, but it is the opportunities to work as a team, to bounce ideas off others dealing with the same professional situations, to share strategies and concepts with such a large and talented group as this that truly provides a level of satisfaction and purpose that I believe many in our business do not experience.  We are truly better together in this little community, created around silly pictures and shared knowledge. 
 
With that I wish you all a very happy holiday season, a happy and fruitful new year, and include our horrible rendition of a classic poem below.

Thanks to you all, and to all a good night.


David

David R. Adams
Hurwitz Fine P.C.
The Liberty Building
424 Main Street, Suite 1300
Buffalo, New York 14202
Phone:  716.849.8900
Direct:  716.849.8916
Fax:  716.855.0874
Cell:  716.553.6901
Email:  [email protected]
HF Website:  www.hurwitzfine.com

Labor Law Pointers is published the first Wednesday of each month.  If you know of others who may wish to subscribe to this free publication, please feel free to forward it.  If you wish to subscribe, please do so here or call the Editor/Labor Law Team Leader David R. Adams directly at (716) 849-8916.

 

A Visit to the Construction Site
or
‘Twas the Night Before Construction

 
By David Adams

(with apologies to Clement Clark Moore)
 
‘Twas the night before Christmas and down at the site,
Not a tradesmen there was working, no one hanging a light;
The impalement protection hung by the shaft with great care,
Just in case an OSHA inspector decided to look over there.
 
The power tools were locked in the biggest gang box,
While the neighborhood kids pummeled windows with rocks;
The guard in his uniform and I in hard hat,
Had just opened a bottle from an old dusty vat;
 
When up on the third floor there arose such a sound,
That I flew up the ladder without touching the ground.
Away to the scaffold I ran looking spastic,
Jumped into the abatement area, and tore open the plastic.
The security light, on the beams of the just ‘rected structure,
Gave a look of great progress to this new joint venture,

When what through my tempered safety glasses did appear,
But a tipped over ladder and some broken veneer,
With a little old worker, looking injured and stiff,
I knew right away that he’d become a plaintiff.

More rapid than vultures the attorneys they came,
And they pushed and they shoved and called out his name,
“No I saw him first”, and “Who tipped that ladder”,
“Oh please just stand back, I will handle this matter!”

I filed pre-suit discovery on my way over here,
Said the one from the billboard, two phones to his ear.

As squirrels before racing trucks would flee,
When faced with an accident they giggled with glee.
So up to the scaffold the attorneys they flew,
With cards, blank retainers, and golden pens too.

And then in a twinkling I saw on the floor,
A harness, a lanyard, right there by the door.
As I stepped over closer and was looking around,
Plaintiff, he donned it, with a distinct clicking sound.
 
It was yellow and black with a sliding back ring,
And to keep you from falling, it was just the right thing;
So there, on the worksite, a safety device,
Appropriate and available, now isn’t that nice!
 
His leg how he held it, his arm it looked bad,
But the issue to my mind, what instruction he’d had.
Was he told to tie off, was he told not to climb,
Was he told to have the ladder be held every time? 

He had a pleasant face with a small little slice,
It bled as he rubbed it, which he seemed to find nice.

He was looking around, from lawyer to lawyer,
Asking each one “Can I sue my employer?”
With a wink and a nod, the attorney he said,
There are ways and I know them, you have nothing to dread.

We have us that statute, it’ll make you quite wealthy,
It will fill up your bank book and make you feel healthy.
We lawyers of course live just on a third,
Taking anything else, would be quite absurd.

He spoke not a word but started his notes,
With theories of gravity and dreams of new boats,
The ladder has shifted, of that he was sure,
It gave him 240, without a detour.

Plaintiff sprang to his feet and grabbing a pen,
He signed the retainer from the nice billboard men.
And I heard him exclaim “Hey I fell from a height”,
Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.

 

 
 

Labor Law Pointers
 
Editor
David R. Adams

Associate Editor
Eric S. Bernhardt

Associate Editor
Brian F. Mark

Associate Editor
Timothy P. Welch

Associate Editor
Marc A. Schulz

Associate Editor
Eric D. Andrew


Labor Law Team

 

David R. Adams, Team Leader
[email protected]
 
Dan D. Kohane
[email protected]                                           
           
Michael F. Perley
[email protected]

Eric S. Bernhardt
[email protected]

Marc A. Schulz
[email protected]

Jesse L. Siegel
[email protected]

Steven E. Peiper
[email protected]

Brian F. Mark
[email protected]

Timothy P. Welch
[email protected]

Eric D. Andrew
[email protected]
 
Michael J. Dischley
[email protected]

 

 

Hurwitz Fine P.C.
 
Buffalo
1300 Liberty Building, Buffalo, NY 14202
Phone: 716-849-8900, Fax: 716-855-0874
             
Long Island
575 Broadhollow Road, Melville, NY 11747
Phone: 631-465-0700, Fax: 631-465-0313

Albany
Phone:  518-641-0398

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Hurwitz Fine P.C. is a full-service law firm providing legal services
throughout the State of New York
 
www.hurwitzfine.com
© 2022, Hurwitz Fine P.C. All Rights Reserved
 
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