Home elevators are convenient features in multi-story homes. For many people, including those living with a disability or problems with mobility due to their old age, home elevators are completely essential. Elevators have proven beneficial to everyone. Even people who are perfectly able to use the stairs often rather use elevators because of convenience. However, there is a risk that is associated with using elevators to go between floors. When elevator incidents occur, victims are likely to suffer severe harm.
Did a member of your family suffer fatal injuries after experiencing an elevator accident? Did you suffer a number of injuries in an elevator incident? If you or a member of your family suffered any sort of harm due to an elevator accident, it is essential that you seek legal assistance – you might have grounds to pursue a claim. If you would like to explore the possibility of filing a claim and fighting for your rights, you must seek legal assistance with the experts at Normandie Law Firm.
Normandie Law Firm is a personal injury law firm that you could trust to effectively handle your claim and represent you in your elevator injury lawsuit. The personal injury experts at Normandie Law Firm have many years of experience handling a variety of claims and helping victims and their families recover the compensation that they deserve. If you would like our experts to evaluate your elevator injury claim and help you understand your right to take action against the party that contributed to the harm that you suffered, do not hesitate to contact our law firm immediately. We are ready to evaluate your claim and help you fight for the compensation that you deserve.
Elevators Can Cause Harm
Although rare, it is possible to sustain harm due to elevators. Elevator accidents could result in a variety of harm, including but not limited to broken bones, facial injuries, head injuries, brain injuries, shoulder injuries, neck injuries, back injuries, and spinal cord injuries. In most elevator accidents, the injuries suffered are critical – leading to significant changes in victims’ quality of life. The most common types of injuries associated with elevator incidents are crushing injuries. It is very likely that the injuries suffered during elevator incidents are fatal.
Because of the nature of their work, elevator crewmembers are the parties that are most likely to suffer elevator injuries. Their work is risky and can result in harm due to crushing or falls, for example. Although they are the most prone to elevator injuries, they are not the only parties who could suffer harm. Anyone who uses the at-home elevator, including the property owner, the tenant of the property, or any visitors could all suffer harm as a result of an elevator.
– Escalator Injury Accident Attorney
– Premises Liability Attorney
– San Francisco Elevator Accident Attorney
– Can I Sue For Injuries From Elevator Accident? Elevator Accident Attorneys
– Lawyer to Sue for Being Stuck in an Elevator
– San Diego Elevator Accident Injury Attorney
– Elevator Slip and Fall Lawyer to File Claim for Injury
– Elevator Accident Attorney
How can elevators cause harm? In general, elevators are a convenient method to travel between floors – we never expect that they could pose a risk to us in any way. However, elevators can cause significant harm, especially when any of the following happen:
- Elevator cables snap, creating the risk of the elevator to freefall down the elevator shaft and crash below.
- Elevator doors open without the elevator being on the correct level, creating the risk of unsuspecting parties stepping into (and falling into) empty elevator shafts.
- Elevator sliding doors are defective, creating the risk of doors suddenly closing on unsuspecting parties.
- Elevators are not leveled correctly, creating a trip and fall risk when entering exiting the elevator.
- Elevators travel too fast between floors, creating the risk of elevator passengers being suddenly thrown around in the elevator due to the speed.
Without a doubt, elevator incidents could result in significant harm. Regardless of the harm that you or members of your family suffered as a direct result of an elevator, it is essential that you seek legal assistance as soon as possible as you might have grounds to pursue a claim for the harm that you suffered.
Who Is Liable for Elevator Injuries?
You or a member of your family suffered harm as a direct result of an elevator; who is at fault? Who is responsible for the harm caused by the elevator?
If you were using the elevator inside someone’s property (like their home, for example), are they liable for the harm that you suffered? Without a doubt, all property owners have a duty to keep their property safe for others. They must ensure that their property is free of hazards; therefore, they must regularly inspect their property to make sure to identify and address hazards before any visitors suffer harm. In terms of elevators, property owners must ensure that they are in safe condition. When they become aware of a problem, they must act immediately to solve the issue.
Consider the following situation. The property owner requested routine maintenance for his or her home elevator. An elevator repair company was contacted, and they sent out a crew. In this situation, at least two things could happen that could make an elevator repair company breach the duty of care to others: (1) the company could fail to train their crew, resulting in crewmembers being unsafe when dealing with the elevator and potentially leading to crewmembers suffering harm; (2) the company could fail to train their crew, resulting in unskilled crewmembers working on the elevators, which could result in the unskilled crew failing to address issues or creating issues that put property owners and anyone who uses the elevator at significant risk of harm.
Besides property owners and elevator repair companies, the companies that manufacture elevators could also face liability. Elevator companies have a duty to provide their consumers with products (elevators) that are completely safe to use as intended. Because of this duty of care, they must thoroughly inspect their elevators to identify and address any potential hazards before making them available to the public. By failing to identify and address any hazards (defects) in their elevators, they are putting many people at risk of suffering harm.
Do you believe that the harm that you or your family suffered was caused by a breached duty of care? If so, you might have grounds to pursue legal action based on negligence (further explained below).
Elevator Maintenance Company Failure to Maintain the Elevator
In the previous section, we discussed the concept of elevator maintenance company liability for incidents of injuries and death. This is crucial to understand, as homeowners and building owners lack the knowledge and experience to inspect and repair an elevator. That means they are completely dependent on the servicing company to ensure that their elevator is safe.
While we don’t want to be overly technical, it’s important to know about the basis mechanics of elevator safety and how a maintenance company can fail in their duty of care to the customer. Here are the most common examples of negligence by elevator maintenance company owners and technicians:
- failure to check weights
- failure to check automatic stop systems
- failure to inspect door sensors
- failure to inspect the elevator not suddenly dropping
Misleveling is another serious problem that must be resolved by these companies. Unfortunately, rushing through an inspection, poor training of techncians, and other careless acts can result in failure to inspect elevator leveling to ensure the elevator stops on the correct floor. This can cause someone to be injured from a trip and fall when they are stepping out of the elevator. Or, they can be injured from stepping into an elevator and losing their balance due to the floor not being right below their feet.
No matter the circumstance, it’s essential to determine the exact cause of your injuries as soon as possible after an elevator accident. A home elevator injury lawsuit attorney can help you go after all the parties that are responsible for your harm and suffering.
Do Victims have the Right to File a Claim?
If you suffered injuries or a member of your family lost his or her life, you could pursue a claim; however, only if negligence contributed to the harm that was suffered. All personal injury claims are based on negligence. Negligence consists of four different elements, all of which must be present to be able to pursue a claim. These four elements consist of a duty of care, a breach of duty, a cause, and a type of harm. In general, all parties owe each other a specific duty of care. When parties breach their duty of care towards others and cause harm, they could be found negligent. As explained above, many different parties could face liability – all of the parties above have a duty of care towards others. As soon as they breach their duty of care towards you, they could be liable for the harm suffered, making you eligible to file a claim. If you would like to learn more about your right to file a claim, do not hesitate to contact our law firm as soon as possible.
Could You Receive Compensation?
You suffered severe injuries; a member of your family lost his or her life. You could file a claim for the injuries that you suffered and for the death of your loved one, but could you recover monetary compensation? Your right to recover compensation depends on the specific details of your claim.
In general, however, the compensation available for recover could include the following:
- Medical expenses: for all costs associated with medical care for the harm suffered in the accident
- Lost wages: for any income that was lost as a direct result of the accident
- Pain and suffering: for the physical, mental, and emotional affliction caused by the accident
- Loss of consortium: for the lost ability to have a normal, loving relationship with the victim as a direct result of the accident
- Funeral and burial costs: for the costs associated with the death services for the deceased party
- Property damage: for any lost personal property resulting from the accident
- Punitive damage: awarded as a form of punishment for the defendant
Could you really recover all the compensation mentioned above? Again, the specific compensation that is available for your claim depends on the details of your claim; therefore, there is no guarantee on the specific type or amount of compensation that you might be eligible to recover. If you would like to learn more about the specific type and amount of compensation that you could be eligible to receive, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance as soon as possible. When you seek legal assistance with the experts at our law firm, you can be certain that there will always be someone dedicated to helping you recover the maximum amount of compensation available for your home elevator injury claim.
What are the Key Steps to take after an Elevator Incident?
There are a number of things that victims and their families should do after any sort of accident to ensure that they can pursue a claim at a later time. Undeniably, the thought of taking legal action might not even cross your mind immediately after suffering an accident or learning that a member of your family was seriously hurt in an accident. Traumatic experiences, such as elevator accidents, can prevent us from thinking logically and acting appropriately; because of this, many people fail to take immediate action and risk their right to pursue a claim.
Although it might seem difficult or close to impossible, the parties affected by elevator accidents should do all of the following as soon as they are able to:
- Seek medical care for all harm suffered (emergency assistance if it is necessary)
- Photograph physical injuries sustained
- Photograph the scene of the incident (only if it is safe to do so)
- Report both the incident and the harm that you sustained to the elevator company (if the incident was caused by the defective elevator)
- Immediately stop using the
- Do not agree to a free repair
- Do not agree to a free replacement
- Do not agree to a refund of any sort
- Do not tamper with the defective elevator in any way
- Report both the incident and the harm sustained to the elevator repair company (if the incident was directly caused by the incompetence or negligence of the elevator repair crew)
- Do not allow the elevator repair company to send a crew to reverse the problem that they created in the elevator
- Do not accept any sort of refund
- Report the elevator incident and all the harm suffered to the property owner
- Gather the property owner’s insurance information
- Do not accept any sort of fault for the incident
- Identify any surveillance cameras that could have captured the incident
- Gather all documents relevant to the elevator, the incident, and the harm suffered
- Collect witness information (if there were witnesses to the accident)
- Contact the appropriate insurance companies (be cautious to avoid revealing any information that could be used against you)
- Find a trustworthy law firm and seek legal assistance immediately
When you follow the recommendations listed above, you are essentially paving the way to file a claim. You will have all the tools necessary to pursue a claim. Even if you miss a few of the steps listed above, a knowledgeable attorney could provide you with the assistance necessary to reach a successful claim outcome. If you would like to further discuss the recommended steps to take immediately after an elevator accident, do not hesitate to contact our law firm as soon as possible – we want to guide you towards a successful claim outcome.
Is Your Claim Subject to Deadlines?
As mentioned above, there are a number of things that you should do to ensure that you can file a claim. Even if you follow all recommendations, you could lose your right to sue if you fail to take action within the appropriate length of time. All personal injury claims, including elevator injury claims, are subject to strict deadlines. These deadlines are called statutes of limitations. The statute of limitations that applies to your claim determines the specific length of time that claimants have to file. If claimants do not file within the time allowed by the applicable statute of limitations, they will lose their right to pursue their claims.
What is the deadline that applies to your elevator accident claim? In general, injury claims and wrongful death claims are both subject to a two-year statute of limitations; however, this is only in the state of California. Different states subject different claims to specific deadlines. Because failing to understand the deadline that applies to your claim could result in the loss of the right to sue, we always recommend to discuss the statute of limitations that applies to your claim with an expert immediately – do not lose your right to sue simply due to a lack of information.
Contact Normandie Law Firm Today
Did you or a member of your family suffer an elevator accident that resulted in some sort of harm? Whether the incident resulted in injuries or in death, you and your family might have grounds to pursue legal action against the party (or parties, in some cases) that contributed to the harm that you suffered. Have you considered the possibility of filing a claim and fighting for the right to be compensated after a traumatic elevator accident? If so, it is essential that you seek legal assistance as soon as possible with the experts at Normandie Law Firm.
Normandie Law Firm is a personal injury law firm with many years of experience handling a variety of claims and helping the affected parties to recover the compensation that they deserve. Our experts at Normandie Law Firm understand how incidents can affect victims and their entire families, and they are dedicated to ensuring that all affected parties have access to the legal guidance necessary to take action against the parties that contributed to the harm that they suffered.
To ensure that all parties have access to the guidance necessary to file a claim, our law firm offers free legal services. We offer free consultations and free second opinions during which our elevator accident experts will be ready to answer all your questions and address all your concerns – ensuring that you have all the information that you need to either start or continue your claim. Would you like to benefit from our free consultations or free second opinions? If you would like to benefit from any of our free legal services, do not hesitate to contact our law firm at your earliest convenience. Our elevator injury attorneys are ready to evaluate your claim and provide you with the guidance that you need to file a claim against the party that contributed to the harm that you or a member of your family suffered.
At Normandie Law Firm, ensuring that you have access to all the information that you need is most important. Our free legal services, mentioned above, are available as part of our Zero-Fee guarantee. Our Zero-Fee guarantee also ensures that our clients never have to worry about paying any upfront legal fees for any of our legal services – you can speak with our experts without having to pay expensive fees. Our law firm is also based on a strict contingency structure which ensures that you will not be required to pay anything until after your claim is successful. Our clients will never have to cover any legal fees until after reaching a positive claim outcome. Even then, fees will not be out-of-pocket but rather from the compensation that they recover. If your claim is unsuccessful and results in no recovery, you will not be required to pay anything. If you would like to discuss your claim with our experts, do not hesitate to contact us immediately.
