Escalators and moving walkways may cause personal injuries if they are defective. A retailer in Wisconsin is suing a Georgia company over injury claims tied to moving walkways it installed.
The home improvement chain Menards has filed a lawsuit against ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corp claiming a series of injuries were caused by the Georgia company’s moving walkways.
Menards filed a lawsuit in Eau Claire County Court, The Leader-Telegram reported. The lawsuit claims the elevator manufacturer breached its contract, broke product warranty laws in the state of Wisconsin and failed to assume defense in two injury cases.
A report in the Associated Press alleged moving walkways ThyssenKrupp Elevator Corp installed in the Schererville store in Indiana caused a disproportionate number of injury lawsuits compared to moving walkways used in other stores.
Menards contacted the Georgia company in March 2015 after receiving no response to its original complaint. The store said it would pursue its own changes and send the Georgia elevator company the bill for the improvements.
Georgia company is sued over moving walkways
Menards has reportedly settled two injury claims. ThyssenKrupp paid a settlement to the retailer in one of them. Two further cases remain pending.
The lawsuit followed reports of multiple injuries centered on the store in Indiana. Customers sued Menards after suffering injuries on the moving walkways. Some reported they were knocked down by shopping carts trapped on the moving walkways.
A warranty required ThyssenKrupp to make repairs to the walkways within a week of notification about any issue. That warranty ended in April 2015.
According to reports, Menards wanted inspections of the walkways, changes to the design to prevent further injuries and demanded ThyssenKrupp take the responsibility for defending injury claims.
Moving walkways, escalators, and elevators can be dangerous for users. In some high-profile cases, users have lost their lives.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC,) about 30 people are killed and 17,000 people are seriously injured in elevator and escalators accidents each year in the United States.
Often the victims are maintenance workers. Last year, a maintenance worker was killed in an elevator that became stuck between the ground and first floor of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s Professional Office Building in Tallahassee in Florida.
If you or a loved one is injured in an accident of this nature, you may have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit in Georgia. Please call the Law Office of Michael West at (414) 913-1529.