Microsoft Sues JLL Over Worker Hurt in Flatiron Office Build-Out

A construction worker was seriously hurt by a forklift inside Microsoft’s new Flatiron office, and now two corporate giants are fighting over who pays. Microsoft sued JLL on Friday, Oct. 9, in New York County Supreme Court, Bisnow reports, saying JLL refuses to cover its legal costs.

Why it matters

The injury happened in March 2023, months before Microsoft moved into 122 Fifth Avenue in July 2023. The worker later sued in Kings County, and in June 2025 added Microsoft and the forklift operator as defendants. Microsoft now says JLL, its project manager, owes it a defense.

Microsoft alleges JLL promised to add it as an insured on a $10 million liability policy for the build-out and did not. JLL’s lawyers reportedly answered that the forklift operator worked for a company retained by the building’s ownership, on a separate project inside the building. Neither company responded to Bisnow’s requests for comment.

The Bromley Cos. owns the landmarked 11-story tower, according to Bisnow. That is a tenant-and-owner split most big office fit-outs share: when someone is hurt, several firms point at each other.

The numbers

City records add context the lawsuit does not. DOB’s file for the building shows no forklift violation in 2023. It does show worker-injury violations from the base building work: a scaffold fall on the fourth floor on May 26, 2022, a fall from a rolling scaffold weeks later, and a fall from a ladder in the cellar on Jan. 5, 2023. Each names a contractor in the Omni Build family.

The base work ran under Alteration job 121208870, pre-filed in November 2020 and fully permitted March 4, 2022. PLUTO lists the 244,069-square-foot building’s owner of record as 122 Fifth Assoc. The court filings we saw do not publish an index number.

What’s next

Watch for JLL’s answer, which will show whether it disputes the policy promise or only who employed the operator, and for the worker’s case, which decides how much is at stake. More: New York →