Personal Injury Attorneys - Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and the Bronx

Identical bills have been introduced in the New York State Senate (S04603) and Assembly (A8154) that would require the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to place door or zone restrictors on its nearly 3,340 elevators. The devices prevent people trapped inside stalled elevators from opening the cab doors by locking the cab door when an elevator is not aligned with a floor landing. The devices operate even when an elevator loses power because they do not rely on electricity. The bills come on the heels of a class action lawsuit filed in the United States Court for the Eastern District of New York on April 21, 2009 to force the New York City Housing Authority to repair and maintain its more than 3,300 elevators. The proposed law: 1. mandates the installation of door zone restrictors in elevators within buildings owned by NYCHA;

A lawsuit was filed in the United States Court for the Eastern District of New York on April 21, 2009 to force the New York City Housing Authority to repair and maintain its more than 3,300 elevators. The lawsuit cites numerous occasions when NYCHA buildings are completely without elevator service. The lawsuit also describes instances when these buildings have only one working elevator, leaving residents waiting in long lines to use the functioning car. Other frequent malfunctions cited include elevator doors without sensors, elevators which fail to stop at particular floors, or which stop above or below floor level, making entrance or exit difficult for residents who use wheelchairs or walkers. The lawsuit also alleges that residents often must wait hours or days for NYCHA to make repairs, and that the elevators typically break almost immediately after having been repaired. Attorneys working