September 13, 2012

NEW YORK (JTA) — A New York Appeals Court ruled that the chupah referenced in a 3-year-old lawsuit qualified as a structure.

The ruling Wednesday by the New York Appellate Division, Second Department, said that the chupah identified in a 2009 lawsuit meets the definition of a structure under New York’s so-called Scaffold Law, Reuters reported. 

The court ruled in favor of Samuel McCoy, who sued his florist employer and a catering hall after he fell from a ladder while taking apart a chupah. It is not known how much in damages McCoy sought in his suit.

The Scaffold Law requires that employers protect workers from on-the-job injuries incurred from falls.

The Appeals Court judges agreed that not all chupahs would be considered a structure, that some are merely decorative. But the one referenced in the lawsuit included “various interconnected pipes secured to steel metal bases supporting the canopy,” they said.