Crisis Hits New York Construction and Building Owners

NEW YORK, N.Y., September 9, 2003 -- The New York State Legislature is moving to overhaul the state's controversial Labor Law 240 as a way of easing an insurance crisis in the building and construction industry.

Reform measures have been introduced in both houses in Albany, and are gaining support.

Here's how the crisis developed:

A construction worker is injured in a fall off a scaffold or ladder.

Even if the worker's negligence contributed to causing the accident - the contractors and building owners and their agents are liable for the accident and the potentially huge damage awards that follow.

This happens with regularity only in New York State. Nowhere else in America is this "absolute liability" statute interpreted virtually all the time against the owners and general contractors.