Irwin v. Simon

Headnote

Negligence — injury to employee of firm occupying part of a building from falling down stairs therein — Labor Law — violation of section 80 relating to handrails on stairs — when question whether building was a factory within meaning of Labor Law improperly submitted to jury.

Irwin v. Simon, 192 App. Div. 892 , reversed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered May 25, 1920, affirming a judgment in favor of defendant, respondent, entered upon a verdict. The action was brought to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff while employed by defendant Franklin Simon’s firm, caused by her falling down a stairway in a building, parts of which were occupied by said firm in conducting their business and owned by the defendant J. J. Steindler Company. The only act of alleged negligence on the part of the defendant, respondent, litigated upon the trial and submitted to the jury, was whether or not the defendant, respondent, was guilty of a violation of section 80 of the Labor Law relating to handrails on stairways in factories, the court, over plaintiff’s exception, leaving it to the jury to decide whether or not the building was a factory within the meaning of the Labor Law.