Elevator and Escalator

Gallo Vitucci Klar LLP’s Elevator and Escalator Group has extensive experience in the defense of cases involving elevator and escalator accidents throughout New York and New Jersey. We have a full understanding of the mechanical and engineering issues associated with a wide variety of cases, ranging from routine misleveling through the more complex cases involving modern elevators and alleged defects in their design, maintenance, repair and operation.  We represent numerous elevator and escalator maintenance and inspection companies that install, service and inspect elevators and escalators in residential and commercial buildings in the New York and New Jersey areas.

We are adept at defending elevator and escalator injury cases that include all manner of premises and wrongful death claims through the use of highly regarded engineering experts. We are also prepared to defend inflated claims of injury with engineering, biomechanical, medical, psychological and psychiatric experts, as each case may require.

Elevator and Escalator Accident Case Results

• Litigated multiple complex elevator accident lawsuits involving the death of an elevator passenger as a result of jumping out of an elevator car, a passenger being fatally struck by the door of a freight elevator, and a multi-passenger elevator entrapment.
• Successfully obtained summary judgment on behalf of an elevator maintenance company in a case where the plaintiff claimed she tripped and fell as a result of a misleveled elevator.
• Successfully obtained summary judgment and the award of attorney’s fees against a building owner relating to the elevator maintenance company’s claim for indemnification in a trip-and-fall case due to a misleveled elevator.
• Successfully obtained summary judgment against a parking attendant who was injured when the freight elevator that he utilized to move cars to various levels of the parking garage dropped.
• Defeated a building owner’s motion for summary judgment in a case where the plaintiff claimed she was injured when the elevator in which she was riding dropped. Our lawyers successfully argued that based on the provisions of the lease agreement, which required the building owner to approve of any repairs to the premises, including the elevator, the building owner could not claim that its status as an out-of-possession landlord at the time of the alleged accident relieved it of any responsibility for maintaining the premises and elevator.
• Defeated a building owner’s motion for summary judgment in a case where the plaintiff claimed her foot was caught between the inside and outside elevator doors as the elevator ascended multiple floors. We successfully argued that the building owner had notice of issues with the elevator’s door operation and had a non-delegable duty to maintain the premises and elevator in a safe manner.