Elevator and Escalator Accident Reconstruction and Litigation - Hardcover

Filippone, James; Feldman, Joel D.; Schloss, Ronald D.; Cooper, David A.; Stabler, Joseph L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1936360047 ISBN 13: 9781936360048

Publisher: Lawyers & Judges Pub Co, 2012

Synopsis

You're considering the case of a maintenance worker injured while repairing an elevator, or an elderly woman hurt on a department store escalator while doing some weekend shopping with her grandchildren. An initial search of the literature has turned up almost nothing useful. Your instinct tells you the cases are good, but to evaluate them properly, you need this new addition to our litigation series.The key questions are: what caused the accident, and what were the contributory factors? Some accidents have an element of "in the wrong place at the wrong time" about them, while others have an element of disregard for the equipment involved. Sadly, others fall into the category of sheer negligence or incompetence. This book will help you determine the difference. This new third edition revises and adds new content, with the most up-to-date information to help you succeed in these cases.The authors have investigated numerous elevator and escalator accidents. Their expertise will guide you as you make your decision to take or reject the cases, and their experience will give you the basic understanding of the issues you need to understand to proceed with confidence.Topics Include: * Codes, regulations and related subjects--for the U.S., with consideration of Canada and the U.K.* Accident statistics and selected incidents * The elements of typical escalator accidents * Reviewing and understanding maintenance documents * Presuit investigation: should a suit be instituted? * Legal theories and negligence * A glossary and a sample expert report * Pleadings--excerpt of a typical complaint * Discovery--sample interrogatories, request for production of documents and corporate designee notices * Expert opinion: the applicability of Daubert, Khumo and Frye

About this title

About the Author

James Filippone, P.E., is a mechanical engineer who started his career in the design and construction of nuclear power plants. Three Mile Island subtly convinced Jim that a change in industries was in order. He joined the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey several years later, and started his elevator and escalator career. He became deeply involved with inspections, maintenance evaluations, testing, accident investigations, code compliance, and the development and review of design specifications, plans and contracts. This has included jurisdiction over approximately 650 elevators and 400 escalators. Apparently, this represents the second largest grouping of escalators for one owner in the U.S. and one of the largest for elevators. This equipment is installed at airports, bus and train terminals, seaports, a wide variety of industrial, commercial and residential facilities and formerly at the World Trade Center (New York City). The challenges of this diverse operating environment were supplemented by the necessity for assuming the role of equipment owner, building management, lessor, inspector and consultant as the conditions and need arose. Jim is a licensed New Jersey elevator inspector and a certified QEI elevator inspector. He is a licensed professional engineer in New York and New Jersey. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering (BSME) from Manhattan College and a Master of Science degree in management (MSM) from Polytechnic University. Jim has been deeply involved with development of the ASME A17.1 Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, the ASME A17.2 Inspectors' Manual for Elevators and Escalators and the other A17 codes and standards, serving on the following A17 Code Committees: Standards (Main), 1995 to present (member) and 1993-1995 (alternate) National Interest Review, 1991 to 1995 (member) Inspections, 1989 to present (member), 2007 to present (vice chair) Maintenance, Repair and Replacement, 1996 to present (member) Editorial, 1996 to present (member) He can be reached at TheElevatorGuy@comcast.net.Joel D. Feldman, Esq. is an attorney who received his J.D. in 1981 from Villanova University School of Law. He is a shareholder and managing partner of the Philadelphia law firm of Anapol, Schwartz, Cohan, Feldman & Smalley, P.C. He has served as an associate editor of the Philadelphia County Reporter, which publishes trial court opinions in Philadelphia. He is admitted to the Bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and is an active member of the Philadelphia and American Trial Lawyers' Association. He is the author of a number of articles pertinent to litigation, including “Protective Orders in Product Liability Cases,” Vol. 4, No. 1, The Brief, American Bar Association, Fall, 1984. He is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Mid-Sized Law Firm Management Committee, and has been active in various organizations pertinent to the preservation of historical structures in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His product liability practice has included successfully representing victims injured by faulty machines, products, tools, construction equipment, automobiles, consumer products, leisure and sport equipment, as well as elevators and escalators. His litigation experience involving escalators and elevators has included cases against elevator and escalator manufacturers, owners, and maintenance companies. He is a frequent lecturer in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as moderator and faculty member, continuing legal education courses involving aspects of litigation including deposition techniques, use of expert witnesses, accident reconstruction, highway design, governmental immunity, liquor liability and ethics. His nonlegal interests include historical preservation, snow skiing, rock climbing and gardening. He lives in Springfield, Pennsylvania with his wife Dianne L. Anderson, and his children, Casey and Brett, to whom this book is dedicated. He can be reached at jfeldman@anapolschwartz.com Ronald D. Schloss, executive director, SEEC, LLC, is an elevator consultant and electrical engineer with a life-long dedication to the vertical transportation industry. All of his 50-plus working years, except for military obligations, have been in the elevator industry. This is ironic because his first 17 years were isolated in a small southern Illinois coal-mining town. The area was devoid of elevators and escalators, except for those elevators that carried the miners several hundred feet below the surface and down into the tunneled world of coal mining. His father, Moxie “Max” Schloss, first introduced him to elevators. After a career as a professional boxer, bouncer and bartender Max worked the remaining years in elevator maintenance and eventually got Ron into the International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC). Ron was an installer for Otis, and a maintenance technician, engineer and manager for Westing-house Electric Corporation, which later became Schindler Elevator Corporation. Ron left the corporate world in 1996 and founded SEEC, LLC. Ron has published numerous books and articles for the vertical transportation industry, some of which can be obtained through Elevator World magazine and McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, National Association of Elevator Contractors, and International Association of Elevator Consultants. Ron is serving as a member on the following ASME A17 Code Committees: National Interest Review, 1997 to present Inspectors' Manual, 1993 to present Maintenance, Repair and Replacement, 1996 to present David Cooper, BSc(Hons), MSc, MPhil, CEng, FRSA, FIET, FCIBSE has over 30 years of experience in the lift and escalator industry. He is the Managing Director of U.K. based consulting engineers LECS (U.K.) Ltd. He holds a Master of Philosophy Research Degree following a five-year investigation into accidents on escalators, a Masters Degree in Lift Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree, Higher National Certificate and Continuing Education Certificate in lift and escalator engineering. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and a Past President of the Lifts Group. He is also a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Engineers. He has appeared on a number of TV and radio programs with respect to lifts and escalators. He has co-authored a number of books including “The Elevator & Escalator Micropedia” (1997) and was the lead author of CIBSE Guide D (2000, 2005 and 2010 editions). David has been a regular columnist in the U.K. trade journal Elevation since 1994 and has had articles published in other journals including Elevator World, Elevatori, Elevator Kai, Lift Report and Revista del Asenscori. He is also the founder and principal of the Lift Academy which provides educational support for apprentices and trainees in the industry and also a trustee of the Lift & Escalator Industry Charity which supports families with financial assistance in the event of an industry member being injured at work. He has been a member of the British Standards Institute committee for lifts and escalators (MHE/4) since 1990. Joseph L. Stabler began his career in the elevator industry in 1975 before graduating from the Basic Institute of Technology in Electronic Engineering Technology (1977). Thereafter, he co-founded Custom Home Elevators of St. Louis where he served as president, owner/manager, and principal sales engineer of commercial and residential vertical and incline platform lifts, dumbwaiters, and residential elevator systems. Joe subsequently sold his company interest in 1979 to pursue and earn his journeyman mechanic's certificate through the International Union of Elevator Constructors (1984) where he worked as an elevator constructor, service technician, adjuster and field engineer for two multinational manufacturers. He subsequently earned his QEI certificate from NAESA (1991-Present) and then founded Stabler Associates, Inc. (1992), an independent elevator and escalator consulting firm where he serves as the President/CEO. In 1995, Joe was appointed by the Governor of Missouri to codify and promulgate rules for the Missouri Elevator Safety Act and serve as a “Special Inspector” on the Elevator Safety Board (1995-2003). Further, Joe has earned and holds numerous certificates and licenses for elevator/escalator inspection including an additional QEI certificate from Lift Technologies International (1997-2008); Missouri State Licensed Elevator Inspector (2000-2003); and, Electrical Contractor's License (2005-Present). He has been directly involved in design, construction, inspection, modernization, planning, repair, review, service and testing of approximately 6,000 conveyance systems. Joe is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2009-Present) and serves on the following committees: ASME A17 National Interest Review Committee (1996-Present); Maintenance, Repair & Replacement Committee [(Alternate R. Schloss) 2007-Present]; Escalator & Moving Walk Committee (2009-Present); Inspection Committee [(Alternate R. Schloss) 2011-Present]. Joe has also given presentations on post-accident investigation and equipment inspection to the Society of Forensic Engineers and Scientists (1998) and NAVTP (2003), respectively; performed or reviewed over 700 accident investigations; and given approximately 325 depositions and testified as an expert witness in 18 trials throughout the United States on subjects regarding contracts, warranties, design defects, construction, repair, maintenance, modernization, and industry customs and practices regarding various short range vertical, horizontal and inclined conveyance and transportation systems. In 2004, Joe became Co-Owner, Assistant Vice President, Chief Director of Operations and Technical Support of Custom Home Elevators for new product sales, field engineering, construction, service, repair, troublesh9780977802623\Eugene E. Pfaff, Jr., is a retired Oral History Librarian and college history teacher.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lawyers & Judges Pub Co
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1936360047
• ISBN 13: 9781936360048
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 426