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Who’s At Fault in Bronx Elevator Apartment Building Fatality?
March 4, 2010 by Neil · 4 Comments
A little knowledge can be a deadly thing. That was the unfortunate case for Joseph Ryan, a 35 year-old elevator repairman. Ryan knew how to unlock and operate a freight elevator, and used that knowledge to haul a mattress with his wife up to their apartment after hours. (The freight elevators in the 13-story, 278-unit multifamily at 1749 Grand Concourse go out-of-service after 5 pm.)
When Ryan stepped back to drag his end of the mattress into the elevator, he fell 40 feet down to the bottom of the Art Deco apartment building’s elevator shaft.
NYC’s Department of Buildings issued a citation against the owner, after Ryan’s death because the elevator’s locking device was broken.
In this tragic situation, it is inevitable that a personal injury attorney will bring a lawsuit against the property owners and managers, for failing to keep the freight elevator in question adequately locked. A jury would ultimately have to decide if it was reasonably foreseeable that tenants would try to use the freight elevator after hours, and tamper with the lock. A plaintiff’s attorney would need to show that the owners knew, or should have known, that tenants had tampered with the lock to gain access. If he can prove this, then he would be able to show that the owners/operators had actual, or constructive, notice, of this dangerous situation, and failed to remedy it.
This line of argument underscores the belief that the deep-pocketed and well-insured owners-operators have the money and ability to prevent such accidents. This was the logic behind a trial court’s decision, since overturned, to hold owners responsible for the deaths of two firefighters who were disoriented in a burning building containing illegal partitions.
R.I.P Joe, You were a good dude and a good brother.