January 19, 2011 : Brian Calistri Obtains Jury Defense Verdict in Elevator Accident Case

After a five day trial before the Honorable Nitza Quinones-Alejandro, a Philadelphia County jury awarded a defense verdict to Brian Calistri and the Firm's client, a Center City elevator contractor charged with maintaining approximately 45 elevators at a large Philadelphia hospital.

The plaintiff, a hospital employee, claimed she boarded a misleveled elevator that shook her to the ground, causing head injuries, a torn rotator cuff, and a cervical and lumbosacral strain and sprain. She reported to the hospital's ER after the incident with head injuries and a swollen lip. She thereafter collected $206,000 in workers' compensation benefits from the hospital, which held a lien in this amount on any civil recovery.

The plaintiff boarded at trial $300,000 of past and future wage loss and $46,000 in medical bills. Her negligence claim alleged that the elevator contractor's inadequate maintenance and admitted failure to conduct state-required five year safety tests had contributed to the elevator's misleveling and shaking, which caused her personal injuries and totally disabled her from her pre injury work as a hospital receptionist. Ten witnesses testified at trial including five expert witnesses.

Although the jury found the elevator contractor negligent, they also found this negligence was not the cause of the incident. In this regard, the jury seemingly accepted defense arguments that plaintiff's liability expert, though he had identified multiple deficiencies in defendant's maintenance program and record-keeping, had failed to satisfy the burden of proving that any of those factors actually caused or contributed to this accident. The jury, which deliberated for over 10 hours and sent back half a dozen questions to the judge through the foreperson, ultimately concluded that the plaintiff had failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the contractor's negligent maintenance had caused the plaintiff's incident and injuries.

File Under: Results, General Liability, Brian L. Calistri