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THE BUILDING OWNER HAD, BY CONTRACT, RELINQUISHED ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ELEVATOR MAINTENANCE TO DEFENDANT AMERICAN ELEVATOR AND WAS THEREFORE NOT LIABLE FOR THE ALLEGED ELEVATOR MALFUNCTION; THE PLAINTIFF ALLEGED THE INNER GATE CLOSED ON HER SHOULDER, PINNING HER, AND THE ELEVATOR THEN DESCENDED; A QUESTION OF FACT PURSUANT TO THE RES IPSA LOQUITUR DOCTRINE WAS RAISED (FIRST DEPT). ​

The First Department determined that the building owner, 1067 Fifth Avenue Corp. had, by contract, relinquished the responsibility to maintain the elevator to defendant American Elevator. Plaintiff alleged the elevator inner gate closed on her shoulder and then the elevator descended. Plaintiff alleged she injured her shoulder, neck and back pulling her arm free. Although the defendants demonstrated they did not have actual or constructive notice of the defect, a question of fact was raised pursuant to the res ipsa loquitur doctrine. Based on its maintenance contract with American, the action against the building owner should have been dismissed:

… [U]nder the terms of its contract with 1067 Fifth, American was responsible for providing “full comprehensive maintenance and repair services” for the elevators, which included maintaining “[t]he entire vertical transportation system,” including “all engineering, material, labor, testing, and inspections needed to achieve work specified by the contract.” Further, under the terms of the contract, maintenance “include[s], but is not limited to, preventive services, emergency callback services, inspection and testing services, repair and/or direct replacement component renewal procedures.” The contract also provided for American to “schedule [ ] systematic examinations, adjustments, cleaning and lubrication of all machinery, machinery spaces, hoistways and pits,” and to do all “repairs, renewals, and replacements . . . as soon as scheduled or other examinations reveal the necessity of the same.” Further, American agreed to provide emergency call-back service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Given such broad contractual responsibilities, American’s contract can be said to have “entirely displaced” the responsibility of 1067 Fifth and Elliman to maintain the safety of the building’s elevators, which gave rise to a duty owed directly to plaintiff by America … . Sanchez v 1067 Fifth Ave. Corp., 2020 NY Slip Op 07326, First Dept 12-8-20

 

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