Court Opinion

ID: 9693511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:46:31.231353+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:47.762076
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent. The plaintiff’s testimony, if believed by the jury, would support a finding that the elevator did malfunction. A properly designed, manufactured and maintained elevator does not malfunction. I suggest, therefore, that the plaintiff had presented sufficient evidence upon which the jury could conclude more probably than not that the plaintiff’s injuries were caused by the negligence of the defendants.
On the evidence in this case, the jury would have been warranted in finding the defendants exercised due care for the safety of elevator passengers. The jury might even have entertained considerable doubt about the accuracy of the plaintiff’s testimony. Such a record, however, generates questions to be resolved by the jury. Those questions ought not to have been resolved by the presiding justice or by us on appeal. I would remand for a new trial.