Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog

A New York woman suffered brain injuries recently when the elevator car she was in fell from the sixth floor down into the basement of her apartment building. Residents of the building claimed that there had been prior incidents of the elevator falling in an uncontrolled manner, resulting injury to another building resident.

Owners of buildings that have elevators have an unusual legal status. They are considered common carriers, which means that like bus and train operators, they must exercise the highest degree of care to assure the safety of passengers of the elevator car. Most often, building owners rely on the expertise of elevator companies to maintain and repair the elevator cars.

When there is an injury due an elevator such as an elevator car falling or a levelling problem with an elevator car, injured people can usually look to both the building owner and the maintenance company as defendants in their personal injury lawsuit.

Labels: brain injury, elevator accidents, slip and fall accidents