The building owner's getting off here.

Plaintiff was injured when, just after the doors closed, an elevator suddenly fell four floors. The First Department dismissed the complaint as against the building's owner, in Hodges v. Royal Realty Corp., which was decided on July 12, 2007.

The court noted that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur may be invoked in an action involving a malfunctioning elevator, but only if it can be established that (1) the elevator's sudden fall would not ordinarily occur absent negligence; (2) when the elevator fell, it was within the defendant's exclusive control; and (3) plaintiff did not contribute to the elevator's fall in any way.

Here, the court found that the owner did not have exclusive control of the elevator. The court pointed to a service contract which required defendant-elevator company to maintain the elevators in a proper and safe operating condition, perform periodic inspections, repair all defects and provide on site a full-time elevator mechanic whose sole responsibility was to care for and maintain the building's elevators.