It's something we've all thought about on occasion - what if some sort of malfunction happened while I am on an elevator? Although they are very rare, elevator accidents do occur in New York. Injuries can result when doors open onto empty shafts, elevator cars drop unexpectedly and doors trap people halfway inside while the elevator moves.
The likelihood of elevator accidents was illustrated recently by the death of a New York advertising executive in December. The tragic accident occurred when the executive was trapped in the closing doors on the first floor of her company's building and the elevator abruptly rose, killing her nearly instantly. According to reports, the impact was so great that it knocked down tile and concrete from the frame of the elevator shaft.
Two other people were in the elevator at the time and were forced to wait in the elevator car for an hour before crews could bring the elevator car back down and the two could exit. One of the two, a woman who also worked for the ad agency, has already filed a lawsuit against her employer (the ad agency who owns the building) as well as the company responsible for maintenance of the elevator. So far she is the only person to sue, but the family of the woman who was killed may also be entitled to sue for wrongful death.
The Manhattan company who serviced the elevator has been the subject of other lawsuits recently, including two from individuals who experienced sudden, violent stops while descending. One occurred to an employee at the Plaza Hotel, who later discovered that the sudden stop had fractured her foot. Another suit was filed by a personal trainer who apparently suffered severe spinal compression when the elevator in his apartment suddenly stopped. He walked off the elevator, but within a day he had lost feeling and movement in his legs.
Following any sort of accident, it's important to preserve the evidence of what went wrong before everything is fixed, and elevator accidents are no exception. That's why the woman who witnessed her coworker's death had asked the court to preserve the elevator in the condition it was at the time of the accident, so that her legal and technical experts could examine it.
If someone you know is injured in an elevator accident-or any kind of accident-talk to an experienced personal injury attorney who can move swiftly to help obtain legal compensation for any injuries.
