In Flaherty v. Fox House Condo., 299 AD2d 448, 448-449, 751 N.Y.S.2d 271 [2002], the Appellate Division, Second Department, upheld the denial of summary judgment to a property owner and manager who claimed that they "could not be held liable because their independent contractor . . . caused the fire by using a propane torch to resurface the roof" (299 AD2d at 448). The Second Department held that the trial court properly denied defendants' motions for summary judgment because there were issues of fact regarding their potential liability for the contractor's negligence, including "whether they assigned work which they knew or should have known was inherently dangerous" (id. ).