In Juarez v. Avacon Management LLC d/b/a Avacon Builders Developers (2026), the First Department affirmed the lower court's dismissal of the contractual indemnification claim where the scope of the subcontractor's work was "never defined."
The plaintiff was an employee of the subcontractor Skittles Services Corp., who was injured when he fell from a scaffold while removing bricks from ceiling beams on the first floor of a construction project. He sued the owner and the general contractor who subcontracted with his employer. The general contractor, Avacon, then brought a third-party action against Skittles for contractual indemnification and breach of contract for alleged failure to procure insurance. The parties had orally negotiated the work to be performed by Skittles, and later signed a written subcontract rider stating that Skittles would indemnify Avacon for injuries arising out of work covered by their oral agreement and would maintain commercial general liability insurance. Skittles moved for summary judgment, arguing that the parties had never actually agreed on a definite scope of work and that the plaintiff's accident did not arise from the work Skittles was hired to perform.
The New York County Supreme Court granted summary judgment in favor of Skittles. They held that the indemnification rider could not be enforced because the material terms of the indemnification provision, specifically the scope of work, were not defined nor understood by the parties in the...
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