Phillip D'Avilar, who worked for a maintenance company, was told to begin work on an elevator's wheel chain and sprocket before the unit's power had been turned off.
After he was injured when his hand got caught in the wheel chain, D'Avilar filed suit against parties which included Lee Spring Company, Unispring Realty Co., and Albert P. Mangels (collectively "Lee Spring").
When the Bronx County Supreme Court let those defendants out of the case, D'Avilar appealed to the Appellate Division, First Department.
While Lee Spring had been accused of certain misconduct, like not keeping the machine room in a "reasonably clean condition," the AD1 still thought dismissal was appropriate given the actual cause of D'Avilar's injuries was his employer's failure to turn off the power before the elevator got serviced.
The remaining defendants are going down.
To view a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: D'Avilar v. Folks Elec. Inc.