Maryland Elevator and Escalator Accident Lawyer

How Maryland Law Looks at an Elevator or Escalator Injury

An elevator or escalator injury claim usually rests on one of two theories, and sometimes both. Premises liability is the legal responsibility a property owner or the party in control of a building has for the condition of that property, including the equipment in it. What duty is owed to a particular visitor, and how far it reaches, depends on Maryland's current law and on the facts of the visit.

A second idea sometimes arises in elevator cases. A common carrier is a business that carries members of the public, and some courts have treated passenger elevators that way. Whether a given Maryland elevator is treated as a common carrier, and what duty follows, depends on Maryland's current law and the facts.

The other main theory is product liability: a claim that the equipment itself, or one of its parts, was defective in design or manufacture and that the defect caused the injury. A premises claim looks at how the equipment was kept and controlled; a product claim looks at how it was made.

Under either theory, a claim generally has to show a duty, a breach of that duty, causation and damages. An accident alone does not prove a defect or anyone's negligence.

In Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, the Court of Appeals of Maryland kept contributory negligence, a court-made rule under which a plaintiff whose own conduct contributed proximately to the injury "is barred from all recovery." The section below on contributory negligence explains it in practice.

If you were hurt, the theory that fits shapes which questions matter: how the equipment was maintained, how it was built, or both. A conversation with an attorney can help sort out which theory may apply to what happened.

Where It Happened — Hotels, Malls, Apartments, Hospitals, and More

Elevator and escalator accidents in Maryland happen in hotels, shopping malls, apartment buildings, office towers, airports and hospitals. The setting matters because it often points to who owned the equipment, who ran the building and who was hired to keep the machinery working.

The accidents themselves tend to fall into a few patterns:

• A sudden drop, where the car falls or lurches downward unexpectedly.
• Misleveling, where the car stops above or below the floor, leaving a step or gap at the threshold that a passenger can trip over.
• A door that closes on a person entering or leaving.
• Entrapment, meaning a person is trapped inside a stopped car, sometimes for a long time.
• Escalator entanglement, where clothing, footwear or a hand is caught in the moving parts.
• Falls caused by an escalator or elevator stopping or starting unevenly.

The escalator accidents page explains these mechanisms in more depth.

Each setting can point toward a different legal basis. A building owner may face a premises liability claim. A maintenance contractor, the company hired to service, adjust and repair the equipment under a contract with the owner, may face a claim about the work it did or did not do. A manufacturer may face a product liability claim about the design or making of the machine. More than one basis can exist in the same accident.

If you were hurt, the type of building and who ran it is often the first piece of the picture, and in a government-owned building it can also bring the one-year notice rule into play.

When It Is Unclear Who Was Responsible

The parties whose conduct or equipment may be at issue usually fall into these groups:

• The building or property owner, under premises liability.
• A property management company, where it controlled maintenance or day-to-day operation of the equipment.
• The elevator or escalator maintenance contractor, which may owe duties under its service contract and, depending on Maryland's current law, a duty of care toward passengers.
• The equipment manufacturer, under product liability, if a defect in design or manufacture caused the injury.
• A component or parts manufacturer, under the same theory, if a defective part caused the injury.

More than one party may share responsibility, and whether any of them is liable depends on the facts. A maintenance contract, a management agreement or a lease can shift who controlled the equipment on the day it failed. The elevator accident lawyer page describes how these roles fit together nationally.

For someone hurt in Maryland, the identity of each party matters for another reason. Because contributory negligence can bar a claim entirely, defendants may focus closely on the injured person's own conduct, and leaving out a party that controlled the equipment can change what the evidence shows. People in this position often start by gathering what they can about who owned the building, who serviced the equipment and when it was last inspected; an attorney can help work out how those roles connect.

Filing Deadlines Under Maryland Law — What the Statute Says

Under section 5-101 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, "A civil action at law shall be filed within three years from the date it accrues unless another provision of the Code provides a different period of time within which an action shall be commenced."

For a minor, section 5-201 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article provides that when a claim subject to Subtitle 1 of that title, or to the wrongful-death subtitle, accrues in favor of a minor or a mental incompetent, the person must file within the lesser of three years or the applicable limitation period after the disability is removed. The section does not apply if the limitation period has more than three years to run when the disability is removed, and imprisonment, absence from the State or marriage do not extend the period.

Claims against a local government carry an earlier step. Under section 5-304 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, an action for unliquidated damages may not be brought against a local government or its employees unless written notice stating the time, place and cause of the injury is given within one year after the injury. The notice is given in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested, by the claimant or a representative; for a county, it goes to the county commissioners or county council. The section has exceptions. It does not apply to certain nonprofit corporations or to actions under section 5-117. A court may, for good cause, hear a suit without the notice unless the defendant shows its defense was prejudiced. And the notice rule does not apply if, within one year, the local government had actual or constructive notice of the injury or of the defect or circumstances that caused it.

The wrongful-death period appears in the wrongful-death section below. Which deadline applies can depend on who owns or operates the building, a point a conversation with our attorney can help clarify.

What the Law May Allow for Your Losses — and the Cap on Noneconomic Damages

Maryland separates losses that are not about money, such as pain and disfigurement, from losses like medical bills. Section 11-108 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article calls the first group noneconomic damages. For an injured person, that means "pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of consortium, or other nonpecuniary injury." For a family after a death, it includes mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, and loss of society, companionship, comfort, protection, care, attention, advice, counsel, training, guidance or education, among other listed items. Punitive damages are not noneconomic damages under the statute.

The cap depends on when the cause of action arose. If it arose on or after October 1, 1994, an award for noneconomic damages "may not exceed $500,000," subject to an exception in the statute. That limit "shall increase by $15,000 on October 1 of each year beginning on October 1, 1995," and each increased amount applies to causes of action arising between October 1 of that year and September 30 of the next. So the date of the accident decides which year's figure applies. For causes of action arising on or after July 1, 1986 and before the 1994 rule, the statute sets a $350,000 limit for personal injury.

If you were hurt, the cap limits this one category no matter what a jury might find. Other losses, such as medical expenses and lost earnings, are treated under Maryland's current law. Damages depend on the nature and extent of the injury, the facts that establish or defeat liability and the rules that apply; nothing here suggests what any case may involve. An attorney can help identify which category each loss falls into and which year's limit may apply.

Records That Often Matter After an Accident

Inspection and maintenance records often sit at the center of these cases. They can show when the equipment was serviced, what was found, what was repaired and who did the work. These records remain distinct from allegations or findings of negligence: they describe the equipment's history, not what caused a particular accident.

If you were hurt, the records that usually matter include:

• inspection and maintenance logs and service tickets for the elevator or escalator;
• any incident or accident report made to the building or property manager;
• surveillance or security camera footage from the building;
• medical records documenting the injury and its treatment;
• photographs of the scene, the equipment, the threshold or step and any visible injuries;
• the names and contact information of people who saw what happened;
• any certificate of inspection displayed in or near the equipment.

Injured people and families often keep copies of whatever reports and medical paperwork they receive, along with their own photos and notes about the date, time and location. Some records, such as maintenance logs, are held by the owner or the contractor rather than the injured person. Under contributory negligence, these records can also bear on how the injured person's own conduct is viewed, and an attorney can help identify which ones are held by others. For national data on how often these injuries are reported, the elevator accident statistics page summarizes government figures.

If Your Own Conduct Is Questioned — Maryland's Contributory Negligence Rule

Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, decided by the Court of Appeals of Maryland (now the Supreme Court of Maryland) on July 9, 2013, is the authority for this rule. The Court held that a plaintiff who contributes proximately to the injury "is barred from all recovery." It also held that, although the Court had the authority to change the common law, it would leave any change to the General Assembly. Contributory negligence in Maryland is therefore a rule made by court decision, not a statute.

"Contributes proximately" means, in plain words, that the injured person's own conduct was a direct cause of the injury, not merely something that happened in the background. Being in a hurry or carrying bags is not automatically enough; the question is whether that conduct helped cause the harm.

Under comparative negligence, a plaintiff's share of fault reduces recovery rather than ending it. The Coleman opinion discusses other states that moved to comparative negligence by statute or court decision. Maryland did not.

For a person hurt on an elevator or escalator, how their conduct at the moment of the accident is described, whether they stepped in while a door was closing or noticed a misleveled floor, can decide the whole claim. How that conduct may be characterized, including in any statement given to a building owner, an insurer or an investigator, is a question a person may want to consider discussing with an attorney. You can request a case evaluation to talk through how this rule may bear on what happened.

When a Family Has Lost Someone — Wrongful Death in Maryland

Maryland's wrongful-death statute names who the action is for. Under section 3-904 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, except as its other paragraphs provide, the action "shall be for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent, and child of the deceased person." In plain terms, a surviving spouse, parent or child is on that list. The statute bars a parent from being a beneficiary in certain circumstances involving listed crimes. Section 11-108 also refers to "secondary claimants" described in subsection (e) of section 3-904. Whether another relative falls within the statute is a question of the family's facts.

The filing period appears in subsection (g): except as its paragraphs (2) and (3) provide, a wrongful-death action "shall be filed within three years after the death of the injured person." One of those exceptions sets a different rule when an occupational disease was a cause of the death. Wrongful-death damages are not limited by the "pecuniary loss" or "pecuniary benefit" rule, so the family's loss is not measured only in money, and the recovery is divided among the beneficiaries as the verdict directs, subject to section 11-108.

For a family, the three-year period runs from the death, not from the accident, and the beneficiary list decides who the action benefits. Whether the elements of a claim are met depends on the facts; the law describes what it may allow and does not promise any result. An attorney can help a family sort out which relatives are covered and which deadline applies.