Massachusetts Elevator and Escalator Accident Lawyer

How Massachusetts Law Frames an Elevator Accident Claim

Elevator and escalator injuries in Massachusetts usually fit one or more legal theories. The theory that fits shapes what has to be shown and against whom.

When the problem was upkeep. If the issue was how the building kept its equipment, the claim usually sounds in premises liability. The person who owns or controls a property answers for its condition, including its elevators and escalators.

When the problem was the equipment. If the issue was a door mechanism, a leveling system or an escalator step, the claim may be one of product liability, meaning the part was defective. Both theories can run side by side when upkeep and design are both in question.

When a carrier or a sale is involved. Massachusetts wrongful-death law names two more categories. Section 2 of chapter 229 of the General Laws of Massachusetts reaches a person who "operates a common carrier of passengers and by his negligence causes the death of a passenger." In plain terms, a common carrier is a business that carries members of the public as passengers. The same section also covers "a breach of warranty arising under Article 2 of chapter one hundred and six," which is how Massachusetts ties a product's sale to a death.

A useful first question is whether the accident looks like a maintenance problem, an equipment problem or both. An attorney can help sort that out from the facts.

Where and How Elevator and Escalator Accidents Happen in Massachusetts

People ride elevators and escalators every day in Massachusetts hotels, hospitals, office towers, apartment buildings, shopping centers, MBTA stations and Logan International Airport. Each setting carries its own mix of owners, managers and contractors.

On elevators, the scenarios include misleveling, when a car stops out of level with the floor and leaves a step up or down at the door; a sudden drop; a door closing on a passenger; entrapment between floors; and a car that fails to reach the floor called. On escalators, they include a step that collapses or leaves a gap, a handrail that does not move with the steps, a sudden stop that throws riders forward, and clothing or footwear caught at the edge of a step. Our overview of escalator accidents and how they happen covers these mechanisms in more depth.

Where the accident happened matters as much as how. A privately owned hotel or apartment building is treated differently from a building run by a public employer, and the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act, explained below, names the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in its own text. An accident in a government building or a transit station may fall under different written-claim and timing rules. The details worth noting early are the building's name and address, the date, and who appeared to run the equipment.

Who Can Be Held Responsible When Someone Is Hurt on an Elevator

Often more than one party is involved, and responsibility may be shared.

• The building owner or occupier, who controls the premises and the equipment in it.
• A property manager or management company, whose role depends on its agreement with the owner.
• A maintenance contractor, the company hired to inspect, service or repair the equipment, which may owe its own duty apart from the owner's.
• A manufacturer or component supplier, where a defect in the car, the door operator, the leveling system or an escalator step is alleged.
• A public employer, where the equipment sits in a government building or an MBTA station, under the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act.

A national look at elevator accident claims explains how these roles often overlap, and our page on what an elevator injury claim involves describes the manufacturer, installer, contractor and owner layers.

Each party may be governed by different rules. A private owner, a contractor and a public employer can each face a different deadline and, for a public employer, a damages limit. Useful questions at this stage are who owns the building, whether a separate company services the elevator and whether a government body is involved.

Which Massachusetts Filing Deadline Applies to an Elevator Injury

The deadline that applies depends on who may be responsible and what happened.

Claims against a private party. For a personal-injury claim against a hotel owner, a maintenance contractor or another private party, the filing period is set by section 2A of chapter 260 of the General Laws of Massachusetts. This page does not restate that period; when it starts and how it applies depend on the statute as it currently reads. How the period works for an injured child is addressed in section 7 of chapter 260 of the General Laws of Massachusetts, whose effect likewise depends on its current text.

Claims with their own rules. A claim against a public employer has its own written-claim rule and outer limit, covered in the next section. A wrongful-death action has its own three-year rule, covered near the end of this page. Section 2 of chapter 229 also refers back to sections 4, 4B, 9 and 10 of chapter 260 for time that may be allowed after that period.

A claim brought after its governing period can be barred, whatever its merits. Which period applies, and when it began to run, turn on facts such as who owned the equipment, who was hurt and when the harm was discovered. The accident date, the injured person's age and the equipment's owner are the facts most worth pinning down.

When the Elevator or Escalator Is Government-Owned: The Massachusetts Tort Claims Act

When the equipment belongs to a public employer, a separate set of rules governs. Those settings may include MBTA stations, state office buildings, public hospitals and public universities, depending on who owns and runs them. Chapter 258 of the General Laws of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act, sets those rules.

The written claim (presentment). Presentment is the formal written claim a person must deliver before suing. Section 4 of chapter 258 provides that a civil action "shall not be instituted against a public employer" unless the claimant "shall have first presented his claim in writing to the executive officer of such public employer within two years after the date upon which the cause of action arose." The claim must also have been finally denied in writing and sent by certified or registered mail. If the executive officer does not deny the claim in writing within six months after it is presented, the statute treats that as a final denial.

Where the claim goes. For a city or town, presentment is sufficient if made to officials the section lists, including the mayor, city manager, town manager, city solicitor, town counsel, city clerk or town clerk. For the Commonwealth or its agencies and authorities, presentment to the attorney general is sufficient.

The outer limit. The same section provides: "No civil action shall be brought more than three years after the date upon which such cause of action accrued." The written claim and the lawsuit are separate steps, and both deadlines run.

The damages limit. Section 2 of chapter 258 makes public employers liable for injury or death caused by a public employee's negligent or wrongful act within the scope of employment, "in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances." It also states that public employers "shall not be liable for interest prior to judgment or for punitive damages or for any amount in excess of $100,000." It adds that "all claims for serious bodily injury against the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority shall not be subject to a $100,000 limitation on compensatory damages." This limit applies to public employers only.

A case evaluation can be a conversation about who owned the building, when the accident happened and where a written claim would go.

When an Accident Happens on Property Open Free to the Public

Massachusetts limits the liability of some owners who open their land and buildings to the public for free. Under section 17C of chapter 21 of the General Laws of Massachusetts, the rule covers anyone "having an interest in land including the structures, buildings, and equipment attached to the land" who "lawfully permits the public to use such land for recreational, conservation, scientific, educational, environmental, ecological, research, religious, or charitable purposes without imposing a charge or fee therefor."

That person "shall not be liable for personal injuries or property damage sustained by such members of the public, including without limitation a minor, while on said land in the absence of wilful, wanton, or reckless conduct by such person." Two conditions run through the rule: no charge or fee, and no wilful, wanton or reckless conduct. A voluntary contribution not required for use "shall not be considered a charge or fee," and the liability of a person who does impose a charge or fee "shall not be limited by any provision of this section."

For an elevator injury at a free public trail facility or recreation area, this rule might apply, and ordinary carelessness may not be enough to support a claim. A commercial building that charges admission or rent generally would not fall within it. The section defines "person" broadly, to include agents, managers and governmental bodies, so its reach to a particular contractor or manufacturer depends on the facts.

What to Gather After an Elevator or Escalator Accident

The records that usually matter begin with medical records, which document the injury and the treatment that followed. From there, the evidence tends to fall into a few groups:

• Photographs and video of the scene, the elevator or escalator, and any visible condition, such as a gap at the threshold.
• The incident report made to the building or property manager.
• Inspection and maintenance records for the equipment.
• The names and contact details of witnesses.
• Surveillance footage from the building.
• The component itself, such as a door part or an escalator step, where a product-liability theory is involved.

This evidence connects an accident to the theory and the party responsible, so gaps can make a claim harder to show. Families often gather what they can while a loved one recovers, and the pieces rarely arrive in order. A service log, a missing entry or a recent repair records what was done or written down; it is not by itself an allegation or a finding that anyone was negligent. An attorney can help work out what the records show and which are still missing.

When a Family Loses Someone in a Massachusetts Elevator or Escalator Accident

Who brings the claim. Massachusetts treats the family's claim as its own action under section 2 of chapter 229 of the General Laws of Massachusetts. "Damages under this section shall be recovered in an action of tort by the executor or administrator of the deceased," meaning the court-appointed representative of the estate. This action is distinct from any personal-injury claim the person had while living.

When it must begin. The action "shall be commenced within three years from the date of death, or within three years from the date when the deceased's executor or administrator knew, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known of the factual basis for a cause of action," or within such later time as sections 4, 4B, 9 or 10 of chapter 260 provide.

What the law names as damages.

• "The fair monetary value of the decedent" to the persons entitled to the damages, including loss of "reasonably expected net income, services, protection, care, assistance, society, companionship, comfort, guidance, counsel, and advice."
• Reasonable funeral and burial expenses.
• Punitive damages of not less than five thousand dollars where the death was caused by "malicious, willful, wanton or reckless conduct" or "gross negligence."

Whether any of these is available depends on the facts. If the death happened in a government-owned building, the presentment rule and public-employer limits described above also apply. Because the claim belongs to the executor or administrator, a family may first consider who will serve in that role and whether one has been appointed.