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Elevator Accident Attorney NYC

Headshot of Jeremy Schiowitz
Written by Jeremy Schiowitz

Personal Injury Lawyer at Isaacson, Schiowitz & Korson, LLP.

Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.

Graduated from Brooklyn Law School: Juris Doctor, 2003.

elevator accident

Elevators exist as an important mode of transportation in our everyday lives. As we go to work, school, or places of commerce; we never think twice about the dire consequences that every individual is exposed to when stepping onto a faulty elevator. Some of the causes of elevator accidents can include improper maintenance, inadequate elevator design, the elevator door closing on a body or portion of a body, door entrapment, mis-leveling, sudden/unexpected drop, safety device failure, and other elevator malfunctions.

Some of these accidents may cause only minor injuries. For instance, tripping out of an elevator due to mis-leveling may only cause a few bruises or a fracture. However, most elevator accidents result in terrible injuries that can affect the livelihood of the victim. Some injuries that have been sustained from elevator accidents as well as injuries that you have personally suffered; may be amputations, back and neck injuries, broken bones, head injuries, and paralysis. Either way, elevator accidents are a traumatic event that can stay with you throughout your life. Don’t suffer the negative repercussions of an elevator accident in New York by yourself. You should be compensated for the physical and emotional injuries caused by the elevator accident.

Elevator Accident Cases

The difference between personal injury lawsuits from accidents such as slip and fall and elevator accidents is that there is a relationship of liability between the building/property owner and the elevator company hired to keep proper maintenance. Since a majority of elevator accidents result from the failure of elevator companies to properly maintain and service elevators, it will be your elevator accident lawyer’s job to prove negligence; whether it be the building owner, the elevator company, or both. The New York elevator accident lawyer’s task will be to look at the correspondence between the building owner and the elevator company to understand what lead to the improper maintenance of the elevator.

Thankfully, there are numerous types of correspondence between the building owner and the elevator company as well as other pieces of evidence that can aid your case. First, the security footage of the accident itself will give New York courts a clear picture of the way that the elevator malfunctioned and its role in your injury. From that point, there will be e-mails of correspondence between the building owner and the elevator company, inspection reports, estimates relating to the elevator in question, repair proposals/recommendations, documentation regarding the maintenance testing conducted on the elevator, etc. The goal of gathering all these documents is not only to understand if the business owner and elevator company knew about any issues regarding the elevator but to see who failed to do their job. Did the business owner fail to keep employees/residents from entering the elevator when it should have been blocked off? Did the elevator company mess up somewhere in their maintenance? In finding out this answer, you and your elevator accident attorney in New York will have the tools necessary to prosecute the building owner, the elevator company, or any other party that was responsible for the injuries you have suffered.