The Appellate Division affirmed denial of defendant's summary judgment motion in this action where plaintiff alleges that she was injured when the elevator in a building owned by defendant fell from the 20th to the 11th floor. While defendant demonstrated a lack of actual or constructive notice of a defect, plaintiff can rely on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to prove negligence.
Practice point: A free-fall or sudden drop of an elevator does not ordinarily happen in the absence of negligence.
Student note: Plaintiff submitted evidence to support each of the elements of res ipsa
loquitur, namely, (1) that the occurrence would not ordinarily occur in
the absence of negligence; (2) that the injury was caused by an agent
or instrumentality within the exclusive control of defendant; and (3)
that no act or negligence on the plaintiff's part contributed to the
happening of the event. The fact that a passenger activated the emergency stop button does not affect defendant's exclusive control of the elevator.
Case: Colon v. N.Y. City Hous. Auth., NY Slip Op 08463 (1st Dep't December 5, 2017)
Here is the decision.
