Microsoft says JLL should be on the hook after a forklift accident during the build-out of the tech giant’s Flatiron offices in 2023 allegedly left a construction worker with serious injuries.
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Microsoft filed suit against the brokerage Friday in New York County Supreme Court, alleging that JLL — which was overseeing the build-out of the 150K SF office block at 122 Fifth Ave. — is refusing to cover legal costs incurred because of the accident.
JLL was tapped as the project manager for properties Microsoft occupies in 2012 as part of a facilities management outsourcing deal the Redmond, Washington-based tech company officially signed with CBRE in 2013, according to the lawsuit.
The project management deal with JLL says the Chicago-based real estate services firm would indemnify the tenant against lawsuits related to the build-out and cover attorney fees and damages, Microsoft said in the complaint.
“JLL owed a duty of good faith and fair dealing in connection with its contractual duties and obligations,” the complaint says. “JLL breached its duty.”
Microsoft says JLL failed to provide insurance coverage that it had promised to the tech firm when its Fifth Avenue offices were being built out.
The tech firm’s suit against JLL stems from an accident that occurred just a few months before the tech giant moved into the landmarked 11-story office building in July 2023.
In March that year, construction worker Anyello Frayind was working at the building when he claims a forklift hit him, resulting in serious, permanent injuries.
The incident kicked off a lawsuit in Kings County Supreme Court in 2024, with Frayind’s initial suit naming the building’s ownership entity and the contractors. Frayind then added Microsoft and the person operating the forklift to the complaint in June 2025.
In its lawsuit, Microsoft alleges JLL had agreed to add Microsoft as one of the parties shielded by the brokerage’s $10M liability insurance during the build-out but didn’t actually do so.
The brokerage refused to cover Microsoft after the worker filed suit, according to the complaint, with its legal counsel instead claiming that the building’s ownership retained the company whose worker was operating the forklift and that Frayind was working on a separate project inside the building.
But both Frayind and the forklift operator were working on Microsoft’s space, attorneys for the tech giant claim, saying that JLL’s rejection of Microsoft’s claim was “factually incorrect, was made without investigation and was not in good faith.”
JLL and Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Bromley Cos. owns 122 Fifth and redeveloped the building in conjunction with Microsoft's arrival, a project that cost $100M, the New York Post reported.
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