60 THE QUEENS COURIER • HOLIDAY • NOVEMBER 30, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
THE ERRANT ESCALATOR Q: One day at work, I was walking up a stopped escalator that normally
traveled in an upward direction. When I was near the top, it suddenly began to
move in a downward direction. I lost my balance and took a terrible tumble. As
soon as I collected my senses, I saw a man, with the emblem of the building owner
on his shirt, standing nearby. He was carrying some sort of tool and said that he
would lock the escalator.
I have since learned that, once this particular escalator is stopped, it will
not reset itself. Someone has to restart the escalator by physically using a specific
key at the top or bottom of the escalator in order for the escalator to start moving
again. And the only possible way to reverse its direction is to use that key. Only
the building owner’s employees have access to the key, which is kept in a locked
cabinet.
A: Under the doctrine of ‘res ipsa loquitur’, where the actual or specific
cause of an accident is unknown, a jury may in certain circumstances infer
negligence merely from the happening of an event and the defendant’s relation to
it. In order to rely on the doctrine of res ipsa, you must satisfy three conditions:
(1) that the event was of a kind that ordinarily does not occur in the absence of
someone’s negligence; (2) that it was caused by an agency or instrumentality
within the exclusive control of the defendant; and (3) that it was not due to any
voluntary act or contribution on your part.
Because the mechanism for controlling the escalator was locked and
accessible only by the key you mentioned, the fact that the escalator was open to
the public does not remove it from the exclusive control of the owner – who
appears to be extremely exposed to liability.
St. Michael’s Cemetery
72-02 Astoria Boulevard • East Elmhurst, NY 11370
Tel: 718.278.3240 • Fax: 718.278.2168
St. Michael’s renews last year’s
efforts to make the upcoming
Holiday Season joyful for needy children.
On Saturday,
December 16th at 3P.M.
within All Souls Chapel, the United States Marines
will collect presents to be distributed
to children across the metro area.
YOUR AID IS NEEDED!
At this time of economic pain it is up to us
to make the Holidays a time of Joy for children.
Join us for
Refreshments
For further information contact Ed Horn
Phone: 718.278.3240