An elevator or escalator accident claim is a claim for injuries caused by a lift, moving stairway or moving walkway that malfunctioned, was poorly maintained or was used in an unsafe building. The claim is usually brought against the property owner, the company hired to service the equipment, the manufacturer, or several of them at once.
Blank Kim Injury Law represents people hurt in office towers in Tysons and Reston, apartment buildings, shopping centers, hospitals, parking garages, airports and Metro stations across Northern Virginia. Attorneys Aaron Blank and Robert Kim work from our Fairfax office on Chain Bridge Road, which is open 24 hours. Robert Kim speaks Korean, and our paralegal team speaks Spanish.
How elevator and escalator accidents happen
Most of these accidents trace back to a small number of mechanical failures. Each one leaves its own evidence trail.
Elevator accidents
- Misleveling. The car stops a few inches above or below the floor, and a passenger trips on the lip while stepping in or out. People using walkers, wheelchairs or carts are hit hardest.
- Door strikes. Doors close on a passenger because the sensors that should reopen them are dirty, misaligned or disabled.
- Sudden drops or stops. A brake, cable, hydraulic or control failure makes the car fall, jerk or stop hard between floors, throwing passengers against the walls or floor.
- Entrapment. Passengers are trapped for long periods, sometimes in heat, and are hurt trying to climb out or by the conditions inside.
- Open shafts. A hoistway door opens when no car is there, which can lead to a fatal fall.
Escalator and moving walkway accidents
- Entrapment at the comb plate or step edge. Shoes, clothing and small fingers are pulled into the gap where the steps meet the landing or the side panel. Soft rubber shoes and loose laces are common factors.
- Sudden stops and reversals. An escalator that halts or changes direction throws riders down the steps.
- Handrail mismatch. When the handrail runs faster or slower than the steps, riders lose balance.
- Broken, missing or loose steps, and worn comb teeth that no longer guide the steps cleanly.
Where these accidents happen in Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia has a dense stock of high-rise offices, mid-rise apartments and transit stations, and a great deal of vertical transportation that runs all day. We see claims from:
- Office and mixed-use towers in Tysons, Reston and along the Dulles corridor
- Apartment and condominium buildings in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and Annandale, where one aging elevator may serve hundreds of residents
- Shopping centers and retail stores with escalators between levels
- Hospitals and medical office buildings, where patients on stretchers and in wheelchairs depend on accurate leveling
- Parking garages, including garages serving Metro stations on the Orange and Silver lines
- Metro stations, many of which have long escalators. See our page on Metro accident claims.
- Dulles and Reagan National airports, including moving walkways
- Hotels and conference venues. See our page on hotel injury claims.
Who can be responsible for an elevator or escalator injury
Responsibility often falls on more than one party, and each points at the others. We identify every company that had a hand in the equipment.
| Party | Why they can be responsible |
|---|---|
| Building owner or property manager | Keeps the premises reasonably safe, hires and oversees the service company, and decides whether to repair, modernize or shut down failing equipment. |
| Elevator maintenance contractor | Performs the routine service, responds to trouble calls and is often the party that knew about a recurring fault. |
| Manufacturer or installer | Designed, built or installed a component that failed, such as a brake, door sensor, controller or step chain. |
| Tenant or business operator | Controls the space around the equipment, such as a store that stacks goods near an escalator or blocks a landing. |
| Government agency | Owns the building or station, such as a county facility or a transit station, which brings special notice rules and immunity questions. |
Virginia law requires property owners to use reasonable care to keep their premises reasonably safe for invited guests and to warn of hidden dangers they knew or should have known about. A defect inside an elevator machine room is rarely something a passenger could see, which makes the "open and obvious" defense harder for owners to use in these cases. When a component itself was defective, Virginia does not allow strict liability claims against the manufacturer, so the claim is built on negligence and breach of the implied warranty of merchantability under Va. Code § 8.2-314. Read more on our product liability page.
The evidence that proves an elevator or escalator claim
Vertical transportation leaves more paperwork than most accidents. Virginia requires elevators and escalators to be inspected, and service contractors keep their own logs. The records that matter most include:
- Maintenance and service logs, including the dates of routine visits and what was checked
- Trouble call and callback records, which show whether the same fault had been reported before
- Inspection reports and certificates, and any violations noted by inspectors
- The maintenance contract, which shows what the contractor promised to do and how often
- Controller fault codes and event data stored in modern elevator systems
- Surveillance video from the lobby, car or escalator landing
- Incident reports written by building staff or security
Much of this can be overwritten or discarded in the ordinary course of business, and a repair after the accident can erase the physical evidence. We send preservation letters early and, where needed, arrange for an elevator engineer to examine the equipment and give an expert opinion on why it failed.
Injuries caused by elevator and escalator accidents
The injuries depend on the failure. A misleveled car usually causes a trip and fall, while an escalator entrapment causes crushing and tearing injuries to the hands and feet. The injuries we see include:
- Broken hips, wrists and ankles from falls, especially in older passengers
- Hand injuries and crushed or lost fingers and toes from escalator entrapment
- Amputation and degloving injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries from falls down escalator steps or sudden car drops
- Back and neck injuries from abrupt stops
- Fatal falls into open shafts, which can give the family a wrongful death claim
Children are especially vulnerable on escalators. Under Virginia law, a child under seven is presumed incapable of negligence, so a building owner cannot defeat a young child’s claim by blaming the child.
Virginia rules that shape an elevator accident claim
- Contributory negligence. Virginia generally bars recovery if the injured person was even slightly at fault. Owners often argue a passenger was not watching the floor or rode an escalator carelessly. The facts, the video and the maintenance history usually answer that. See our guide to Virginia contributory negligence.
- Two-year deadline. Personal injury suits generally must be filed within two years of the injury, under Va. Code § 8.01-243(A).
- Government buildings and stations. Claims against a Virginia county, city or town generally require written notice within six months under Va. Code § 15.2-209, and claims against the Commonwealth require notice within one year under Va. Code § 8.01-195.6. Local governments also have immunity for many governmental functions. See our guide to government claim notice.
- Injured at work. A worker hurt on an elevator at their job generally has a workers’ compensation claim, and can also sue a third party such as the maintenance contractor under Va. Code § 65.2-309. See our workers’ compensation page.
How we handle an elevator or escalator case
- Free case review. Tell us by phone or through the form where the accident happened and what you remember. There is no obligation.
- Preserve the equipment and records. We notify the owner and contractor to keep the logs, video and parts before repairs change them.
- Identify every responsible party. We find out who owned, managed, serviced and built the equipment.
- Document your injuries with your medical records, bills and lost income.
- Negotiate or file suit in the right Virginia court when the insurers will not make a fair offer.
