New York City Elevator Accident Lawyers

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Representing Elevator Accident Injury Victims in New York

With its majestic skyscrapers, high rise apartment buildings, and large corporate offices, New York City is home to more than 76,000 elevators. These elevators enable passengers to quickly and easily get from floor to floor without the hassle of climbing numerous sets of stairs.

Unfortunately, elevator accidents are increasingly common in New York and are associated with a variety of different causes, such as a property owner’s failure to properly maintain the elevator. These accidents include elevators that lose power and suddenly plummet downward and elevators that malfunction, trapping passengers for hours. At Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro, Moses & Halperin, LLP, our team of New York City personal injury attorneys were recognized by the Million Dollar Advocates Forum for assisting our clients with obtaining multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts. If you were injured in an elevator accident, call our New York lawyers today at (212) 986-7353 to schedule a free consultation.

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Common Types of Elevator Accidents

• Falls into the elevator shaft: A properly functioning elevator’s doors will only open when the elevator is in perfect alignment with the floor it has stopped on. However, if the elevator is broken and stalled above the landing or if a repair person is working on the elevator shaft, the shaft may be exposed, and an unfortunate accident may occur where an individual falls down the empty elevator shaft, causing severe injuries or even death.
• Sudden stops: Due to a control system malfunctioning, the engagement of the safety while the elevator is in motion, or a loss of power, the elevator may come to an abrupt stop. Passengers inside the elevator are not secured and often are not holding onto to a railing. As such, when the stop occurs, the passengers are violently thrown into the walls or door, or floor of the elevator, resulting in blunt force trauma, spinal injuries, and more.
• Closing doors: Another common injury occurs when the elevator door sensors malfunction and close on a passenger’s body while the passenger is standing in the doorway. This can lead to the doors painfully crushing the passenger.
• Misleveling: When the elevator is not in perfect alignment with the landing, the passenger may trip or fall when trying to enter or exit the elevator, resulting in foot, knee, hip, and spinal injuries.

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Proving Liability in a New York Elevator Accident Case

If you were involved in a New York elevator accident and suffered injuries, you may have a viable claim for compensation. A personal injury lawsuit is a type of negligence lawsuit that arises when the negligence of a responsible party causes injury to a victim. In order to prevail in an elevator accident case, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant was responsible for operating or maintaining the elevator. Defendants may include property owners, tenants, property management companies, homeowners’ associations, developers, retail stores, corporations, and elevator maintenance companies.

To prove liability, the plaintiff must establish that an issue with the elevator caused the accident. The plaintiff must also establish that the defendant had actual notice of the issue and failed to take reasonable steps to remedy the problems, such as placing signs on the elevator, taking it out of service, and calling a maintenance company, or that the defendant should have known of the issue and failed to act.

The experienced NY elevator accident attorneys will tell you if you have a case and make the legal process as easy and stress-free as possible. Click here to read more about our recent $1.5 Million recovery on behalf of a client who was injured in an elevator accident.

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Schedule a Free Case Consultation With a NY Injury Attorney

If you were injured in an elevator accident, our dedicated and experienced New York City elevator accident attorneys can help you with reviewing your accident, explaining the law, and discussing your options. To speak with us today, call (212) 986-7353.

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Additional Information

• Filing a Claim After an Elevator Accident
• Elevators: a Risk to Maintenance and Construction Workers
• Six Week Old Baby Girl Killed in Elevator Fall
• Lower East Side Man Killed in Elevator Accident