Source: https://www.nyaccidentlawyer.com/elevators.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 16:48:27+00:00

Document:
An owner and managing agent of a building owe a non-delegable duty to persons on its premises to maintain the elevator in a reasonably safe condition and in good repair. Rogers v. Dorchester Assocs., 32 N.Y.2d 553, 347 N.Y.S.2d 22 (Court of Appeals, 1973); Martinez v. Benau, 103 A.D.3d 545, 962 N.Y.S.2d 57 (1st Dept., 2013) (“It is uncontested that the owners had a non-delegable duty to maintain the premises, including its elevators, in a safe condition. The evidence also showed that the owners and their elevator contractor maintained exclusive control over the two elevators on the premises.”); and Multiple Dwelling Law §78.
The building owner and managing agent’s duty to maintain the premises extends to elevator repair which remains non-delegable as between the building owner or its managing agent and the injured party, “despite any contractual delegation of maintenance obligations by the owner to another party.” Wagner v. Grinnell Housing Development Fund Corporation, supra.
An owner or its managing agent has an obligation to plaintiff which is non-delegable; and therefore, are “powerless, as against plaintiff, to avoid liability no matter how extensively they delegate their responsibility to however independent a maintenance contractor.” Rogers v. Dorchester Assocs., supra.
The doctrine or res ipsa loquitor may be invoked against the defendants in an action involving a malfunctioning elevator, if it is established that: (1) the event must be of the kind that normally does not occur in the absence of someone’s negligence; (2) it must be caused by an instrumentality within the exclusive control of defendant; and (3) plaintiff must not have effected the happening of the event by any voluntary action or contribution on the part of plaintiff. Weedon v. Armor Elevator Company, Inc., supra.

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