California Lawyers Win at Trial and on Appeal Holding Building Owners Fully Responsible For Injuries Due to Elevator Accident
Blackman Legal Group handled the elevator accident case of Dennis Koepnick from intake through trial and appeal resulting in a total collection of $6.48 million. In the process, BLG prevailed over the top defense appellate firm in the state, Horvitz & Levy, to strengthen and maintain an important caveat to Proposition 51.
Dennis, 62, was a delivery man who arrived at an office building owned by Kashiwa Fudosan America, Inc. to deliver air conditioning registers to the second floor. He was instructed by one of the property manager’s engineers to use a particular elevator. The elevator made a lot of noise but Dennis didn’t know anything was wrong. On his final descent, the elevator came to a very violent and abrupt stop causing his knees to buckle and he fell. Though he walked away that day, his treating orthopedist would later opine that the event tore his lumbar discs resulting in his eventual spinal reconstructive surgery. Diligent discovery, including a successful motion to compel, found a log kept by the security company that noted reports of shaking and banging noises from the elevator the previous night. The nighttime building engineer had ordered that the elevator be taken out of service but the morning engineer, who instructed Dennis, was not aware of the order. No one had called the elevator company before putting the elevator back into service. After the incident, photographs in the machine room showed a cable that was off its sheave. The cable flaying had caused the loud bangs and the next morning, when the cable finally caught on the machine, the elevator car, with Dennis in it, was brought to the abrupt injury producing stop. The cable had come loose because a liner in its groove on the sheave had worn, and not been replaced despite periodic inspections by the elevator company, until it eventually broke. Dennis had past medical expenses and past loss of earnings of approximately $130K each.
After a six figure settlement with the elevator company, BLG rejected a substantial six figure offer on behalf of the building owner and proceeded to trial. The case at trial included a probable future surgery and loss of earnings until age 70. The jury awarded over a million dollars in special damages and $4.25 million in general damages. On liability, the jury apportioned fault 75% to the building owner through their property managing agent and 25% to the independently contracted elevator company. The comparative fault claim was rejected. Republican appointee Hon. Diane Wick (ret.) entered judgment against the building owner for 100% of Dennis’ damages, including the portion of non-economic damages caused by defendant’s independently contracted elevator company, and rejected defendant’s motion for new trial based on excessive damages. The court ruled that because the property owner had a non-delegable duty, Proposition 51, which normally pertained to damages caused by an independent contractor, did not apply.
In Dennis Koepnick v. Kashiwa Fudosan America, Inc. (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 32, Kashiwa, represented by Horvitz & Levy, asserted that new elevator regulations required them to hire a certified elevator company and that therefore Restatement of Torts 2nd section 422(d) provided an exception to the non-delegable duty rule. If required by law to delegate, and prohibited from performing the work on their own, Kashiwa claimed their legal duty must be deemed delegable. Without the non-delegable duty exception, Proposition 51 would apply to reduce the judgment by 25% of the non-economic damages, over a million dollars.
The court rejected Kashiwa’s assertions, refusing to recast the property owner’s duty as delegable and thereby removing an important avenue of recovery for injured victims. The published opinion held that a property owner has ultimate responsibility for the safety of their land whether work is performed by their agent, their independent contractor, or on their own, irrespective of regulation compliance. Blackman Legal Group not only prevailed on appeal, setting a valuable precedent to protect the rights of injured persons to a full financial recovery against a negligent building owner, but collected every penny for their client, including over a million dollars in interest.
Biographical Sketches
Stephen Carr is an engineer, with Technology Litigation Corporation, who specializes in elevator and escalator accident investigation and has analyzed over 230 cases in 37 states over the past decade. Dr. Carr can be reached at C.Stephen.Carr@gmail.com.
Jacob Shapiro and the Blackman Legal Group have successfully handled numerous vertical transportation cases and practice in California. They are available to associate in other states with assistance of local counsel. Mr. Shapiro can be reached at js@blackmanlegal.com.
Clifford Blackman is the senior partner of Blackman Legal Group and is lead counsel on the many trials which the firm handles for personal injury and wrongful death across California, as well as in other states (together with local counsel). Mr. Blackman can be reached at cb@blackmanlegal.com.
The personal injury attorneys at Blackman Legal Group have been handling accident injury cases since 1976. The personal injury and brain injury lawyers at The Blackman Legal Group are available to review cases from around the US 24/7, and can be reached toll-free at 1-888-395-3551, or at www.brain-injury-lawyers.com.
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