Opinion ID: 2095152
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The events of September 25-26, 1996.

Text: The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the Zoerbs, see Pazmino v. WMATA, 638 A.2d 677, 678 (D.C.1994), reveals that shortly after he arrived at work after 4:00 p.m. on the afternoon of September 15, 1996, Zoerb received a call on his walkie-talkie from Michelle Kiah, an employee of Carr. Ms. Kiah requested that Zoerb retrieve some keys that had accidentally been dropped in an elevator shaft. Zoerb set out to search for the keys. At approximately 5:35 p.m., a security camera maintained by Carr showed Zoerb exiting from a lobby elevator, walking across the lobby, opening an elevator door with a special door key used by engineers, and then disappearing through the open elevator door. Zoerb subsequently failed to respond to radio calls, and a search for Zoerb began. At approximately 7:00 p.m., a Barton security officer telephoned Linda Zoerb at home and inquired whether she knew where her husband was. Mrs. Zoerb told the security officer that when she had last spoken to her husband, he had told her that he was going to check out some keys that had been dropped in an elevator shaft. Following this conversation, Mrs. Zoerb, as well as Mark Zoerb's father, Jim Zoerb, made a number of telephone calls to Metropolitan Square, reiterating that Mark Zoerb had gone to search for keys in an elevator shaft. Barton's security officers, however, did not at that time record, or pass on to Barton's Command Center, the information provided by Mrs. Zoerb. The search for Zoerb continued, but Barton's security officers, who had no access to the elevator shafts, made no attempt at this time to contact Otis Elevator Co., which did have access, or to alert the Metropolitan Police or the Fire Department. Between 8:30 and 8:45 p.m., a Barton security officer contacted Alan Johnson, Carr's acting Chief of Engineers, and advised him that Zoerb had been missing for quite some time. Carr personnel proceeded to Metropolitan Square and were on the scene by approximately 9:30 p.m. At approximately 11:00 p.m., Zoerb's wife and father arrived to assist in the search, and they urged those searching for Zoerb to direct their efforts to the elevator shaft. Johnson initially declined to follow this suggestion, concluding that if Zoerb had proceeded to the elevator shaft, as Linda and Jim Zoerb believed, he would have requested one of the security guards to assist him. The police were called at 11:00 p.m., but officers did not arrive for approximately another hour and a half. At 11:47 p.m., Johnson telephoned Otis Elevator Co. An Otis representative arrived at 12:30 a.m. on September 26. Approximately one half-hour later, at 1:00 a.m., Zoerb was found at the bottom of an elevator shaft. He was suffering from head injuries. Zoerb was removed from the shaft at 1:45 a.m., and he was immediately rushed to the George Washington University Hospital emergency room. Zoerb arrived at the hospital at approximately 2:00 a.m. He was finally treated with medication to reduce intercranial pressure at 4:00 a.m., some ten and a half hours after he entered the elevator, and more than four hours after Johnson's call to Otis.