Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

Re: Landlords Liability

I received your post on 6-8-2001.

It could be many entities, from the managing agent, to the landlord, to the elevator company...contact me for more details.

Robert R. Groezinger [email protected]

Re: Landlords Liability

Any number of individuals could be liable,

ranging from the owner, the workmen and/orth

the company employing them doing the work,

tenants who jammed open the door, the city

inspectors, etc. It depends on the

circumstances.

Re: Landlords Liability

The answer to this question can only be answered after a complete investigation of the facts. We would target the owner of the building, the company that manages the building ( management company), and the elevator maintenance company.

Additonally, it is also crucial to the case to investigate whether or not the elevator had previously had problems with the doors opening up without the elevator car present or prior problems with the elevator misleveling. This information is gathered by interviewing tenants and asking them the names of the people they complained to about the elevator's problems.

You see, the elevator maintenance company is responsible for maintaining the elevator mechanisms which prevent the doors from opening without a car present. Further, the elevator maintenance company is responsible for discovering defects in the elevator mechanism. However, I have found during the many times I've handled such cases, that the tenants of building make frequent complaints to management,then the management company calls the elevator company to fix the problems, then the elevator companies attempt to fix the problems but the elevators need to be replaced but the owners of the building do not want to spend the money to get new elevators. In such a case, all three would be responsible to some degree or another because an unsafe elevator should be shut down. In such circumstances, a jury would assign percentages of fault to all three.

The key to winning a case such as this one is to act fast by preserving the evidence so that an elevator expert can discover what mechanisms caused the doors to open.

One further concern, many buildings in the NYC area are owned by the NYC Housing Authority and a notice of claim must be made in writing and served on the Housing Authority within 90 days of the accident.