Baum v. Rowland

Plaintiff, having undertaken to repair the plaster on the ceiling, assumed the risk that it might fall, so that there was no duty owed to him, as would have been the case toward other types of invitees upon the premises. Responsibility does not rest upon an owner of real property to recompense an independent contractor hurt by a dangerous condition which he had undertaken to repair (Kowalsky v. Conreco Co., 264 N. Y. 125).

Plaintiff seeks to sustain the judgment on the ground that he was engaged as a painter and not as a plasterer, and that he had undertaken to repair the crack in the ceiling…