Opinion ID: 1897414
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: On June 22, 1982, Jolene Brown stepped on an ascending escalator with her son Marcus, putting his left hand on the left rail, holding Marcus' right hand with her left hand, and placing her right hand on the rail. Both were on the same step. In Jolene's opinion, the greatest danger in riding an escalator came when getting on and getting off, and she was looking ahead to the point where they were to step off at the escalator's top comb plate. She did not feel Marcus release the left handrail, and he stood up straight holding her hand throughout the ride. When Marcus screamed, she looked and saw blood shooting from his left little finger. He had apparently let go of the handrail, obviously disproportionate to his size, [5] and his hand had been caught in the side gap. Jolene's cousin, Sapha Marie Charles, was riding the escalator two steps behind the Browns. She confirmed that the child held his mother's hand throughout the ride. Defendants strongly rely on the allegation that Marcus Brown poked his little finger into the side space and thus misused the escalator because of inadequate supervision. [6] This might have happened but there is no evidence that it did. [7] His mother did not see what happened. Her cousin, Sapha, said ... some kind of way he got his finger caught.... [8] Asked: Did you ever see this child bend over and stick his hand down in anything?, Sapha replied, No. [9] Even if defendants were correct, the exploring fingers of small children are a normal and foreseeable event. [10] The escalator had pictograms showing a woman riding the escalator with one hand on the handrail and the other holding her child's hand. Circles indicate zones of danger at the bottom where the sides and the treads intersect. The sign says caution, hold handrail, attend children, avoid sides. These signs, installed by Westinghouse, were required by the ANSI Code. [11] There is a dispute about two other signs which plaintiff and her cousin testified were not present on the day of the accident, but the store manager said were customarily posted. However, these merely say, in pertinent part, caution, attend children and add little except size and prominence. They caution against bare feet and advise that an elevator is available in the appliance department. [12] The store manager admitted that he had been personally involved with one other accident on this particular escalator and had heard of others. [13] The state-of-the-art escalator was inspected regularly by Westinghouse. The gap on each side of the treads was no more than three-sixteenths of an inch, the maximum allowed by ANSI standards. The side skirts were kept lubricated to reduce friction. A Westinghouse expert, Jerry Dwight Mowdy, assumed that young children would ride on the escalator, both alone and accompanied, and also would play on the escalator. The tendon in Marcus Brown's left little finger was cut and retracted into the palm. There was also neurovascular damage to the finger. The tendon was sutured back into place under general anesthesia. Marcus underwent physical therapy and remained under a doctor's care for approximately six months, resulting in an exaggerated fear of physicians. According to Dr. Terry Cromwell, an expert in plastic and reconstructive hand surgery who testified in video deposition, the tendon repair had been disrupted or adhesions had developed one year after the accident. The last joint of the injured finger was immobile, giving Marcus a forty-five percent impairment of his left little finger, but only two percent of his hand. According to Dr. Cromwell, most young children, like Marcus, adapt well to such minor disabilities.