We use escalators all the time – in department stores, malls, airports, casinos, hotels, and more. While escalators are relatively safe and convenient, accidents do happen.
Did you suffer an injury after an escalator accident? You may be able to recover compensation for your damages, including medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. An escalator injury lawyer from Van Law can review your case to determine the strength of your claim.
Get Compensation for Your Escalator Injury
Like other personal injury claims, you can recover compensation for economic and non-economic damages from your escalator accident. Economic damages are those that have a monetary value, like:
- Medical costs
- Lost income
- Property damage
Non-economic damages are more challenging to assign a value to and therefore are harder to calculate into your total damages. These include:
- Physical pain
- Emotional anguish
- Trauma
- Loss of quality of life
- Disability or disfigurement
- Mobility issues or inconvenience
You can add up your costs by reviewing medical bills, wage statements, and receipts from getting your personal property fixed or replaced. But it’s those non-economic damages that are hard to put a price tag on. If you work with an escalator injury attorney from our firm, we can use our resources and experience to assess all of your damages.
Factors Affecting Your Compensation
It’s important to note that not all escalator accident cases are the same. There are many factors that can impact how much compensation you could recover. These factors include:
- Your age at the time of the accident
- The severity of your injuries
- How the escalator accident occurred
- How many parties are liable
We’ll consider all these factors, too, when determining what a just settlement looks like for you.
For a free legal consultation with a escalator injury lawyer serving Nationwide, call (725) 900-9000
An Escalator Injury Lawyer Can Represent You
A personal injury lawyer has the resources, experience, and knowledge to help you navigate the legal system. They can also take on the burden of complex and time-consuming legal tasks so you can focus on healing. Here’s what our escalator injury lawyer can do for you:
- Collect evidence
- Investigate the cause of the accident
- Determine liability
- Assess your damages
- File insurance claims
- Negotiate your settlement
- File a personal injury lawsuit if that’s what you need
- Fight for you in court
At Van Law, we truly care about every one of our clients. We want to win for you so you and your family can heal and move on. We put your needs first by working towards a negotiation with the other party or parties. Our lawyers know how taxing these cases can be on injury victims, so we want to make this as painless as possible. Your dedicated team of lawyers, paralegals, and assistants will advise you every step of the way.
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How Do Escalator Accidents Happen?
If you’ve ridden an elevator, you’ve probably heard or seen signs that tell you to “watch your step,” “hold onto the rail,” and “keep all personal items close.” That’s because these are some of the most common ways escalator accidents happen:
- Clothing, shoelaces, flip flops, and bags that get stuck on moving steps or rails
- Tripping when getting on or off an escalator
- Stumbling or losing your balance when getting onto or off an escalator
Other escalator accidents include:
- Getting extremities stuck in the comb plate, the spiked plate at the bottom and top of the escalator where the steps move under
- Getting extremities stuck between steps
- Fingers, hands, toes, or feet getting caught under the belt and rail or step, which is especially common in children
However, these are contributing factors to an escalator accident, and an issue with the escalator itself could be the true cause.
Common Causes of Escalator Accidents
Loose screws, misaligned belts, missing steps or other parts, and overall lack of maintenance contribute a lot to escalator accidents. In fact, poorly maintained escalators can make tripping on an escalator much worse.
Defects are another cause of escalator accidents. Electrical or part malfunctions from lack of maintenance are common, but so are malfunctions from design or manufacturing defects. There have been many manufacturer recalls due to improperly designed, manufactured, or installed escalators.
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Types of Escalator Injuries
Some escalator injuries result in minor bruises or scrapes, but others result in serious injuries that take weeks or months to heal. What’s more, the risk of serious injury increases for children, elderly folks, and those with disabilities.
Here are some of the most common escalator injuries you can recover compensation for:
- Lacerations
- Fractured bones
- Soft tissue damage
- Traumatic head injuries
- Falling injuries
- Crush injuries
Certain injuries seem to occur in certain areas of the body more than others, according to a study published by The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine:
- Rib fractures
- Upper extremity fractures (hands, arms, fingers, etc.)
- Skull or cervical fractures
- Lower extremity fractures (feet, toes, legs, etc.)
- Hip fractures
While death is rare, escalator accidents can cause fatal injuries, especially due to severe head trauma.
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Who Is Responsible for My Escalator Injury?
If you work with our firm, we’ll investigate is the property owner in charge of keeping the escalator in good working order. We’ll make sure they have the right permit to operate an escalator and that they’re following a state-mandated maintenance and inspection plan. We’ll also review the inspection history, maintenance and repair history, and whether there are proper warnings and signage. If the property owner is responsible, your case would fall under premises liability.
The other party we’ll investigate is the manufacturer or installer of the escalator. If we discover that the true cause of your escalator accident was a manufacturing or design defect, then we can file a product liability claim. If a third party installed or maintained the escalator by, we may investigate them, too.
Van Law Is Ready to Take on Your Escalator Injury Case
If you or your loved one was injured in an escalator accident, Van Law is here to help. We offer our legal services at no upfront cost to you. In fact, you don’t owe anything until we win on your behalf. Contact our office today for your free case evaluation with a team member.
No obligation consultations are always free.
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