Otis Elevator Company v. Melott

1955 OK 364, 281 P.2d 408, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 754
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 16, 1954
Docket35892
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 1955 OK 364 (Otis Elevator Company v. Melott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Otis Elevator Company v. Melott, 1955 OK 364, 281 P.2d 408, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 754 (Okla. 1954).

Opinions

WELCH, Justice.

Mrs. Goldie Melott sued Otis Elevator Company, a corporation, and Harry E. Hampton for damages for personal injuries which she sustained. Verdict and judgment were for the plaintiff and against the defendants. The defendants contend the trial court was in error in overruling defendants’ demurrer to plaintiff’s evidence and defendants’ motion for a directed verdict.

The circumstances in proof show that the plaintiff was injured when she fell into an elevator shaft in a building belonging to the Masonic Temple Association. The plaintiff was employed by the said Association to operate an elevator in the said building. The building is a six story structure and has an elevator shaft containing two elevators. The shaft extends from a point above the level of the sixth floor to a point below the basement floor. The elevators are about two feet apart when located at the same floor level and will hereinafter be referred to as the East Elevator and the West Elevator. The shaft is equipped with separate sliding doors at each floor level of the building for entrance to the elevators. At each said entrance place and inside the shaft there is a jointed metal arm which is attached at one end to the shaft wall, and at the other end to the shaft door. When the arm is in horizontal position and fully extended, the door is closed and is locked in such position and when the arm is pulled downward at the joint it serves to release the door from a locked position and to slide the door open. There is a small round hole in each shaft door located slightly above the place of the joint in the horizontal arm. A key or metal rod may be inserted through the door from outside the elevator and used to push downward the arm at its joint and release the door from a locked position.

At the time of the plaintiff’s fall into the elevator shaft and for some years before, the defendant corporation had been under contract with the building owner to make monthly inspections of the elevators and accessory equipment and to report any defects found. The defendant, Hampton, as the employee of the said corporation had made such periodic inspections.

According to testimony of the plaintiff she had been operating the west elevator for a period of five years during the workdays of each week from 8:30 a. m. to 5 p. m. and a Mrs. Williams had been operating the east elevator for three years during the work-days thereof from 7:15 a. m. to 4:00 p. m. It was the rule of the building owner and the custom and practice for each operator to be off duty one hour each day at lunch time and for a 15 minute rest period at mid-morning and mid-afternoon each day. Mrs. Williams’ lunch period was from 11 a. m. to 12 noon each day, and the plaintiff’s lunch period was from 12 noon to 1:00 p. m. Their respective rest periods were taken at separate times each morning and afternoon, it being the rule, custom ’and practice to keep one elevator operating at all times during each work-day from 7:15 a. m. to 5 p. m. Each operator was furnished an elevator key and required to keep said key inside the elevator at all times that the elevator was in operation. According to rules, custom and practice, each time an operator left her elevator at rest periods, lunch period, and at the end of the day, the elevator was parked at the street floor level of the building, the lights inside the elevator were turned off, the elevator key was removed from its hook or place inside the elevator and on departure of the operator from the elevator the door was closed. The operator would then place the elevator key on a large mail box that was attached to a [412]*412wall of the building and near the elevator entrance. On return to work, and to put the elevator in operation the operator would obtain the key from the mail box and insert the key in a hole through the shaft door and thereby move the arm locking device inside the door and slide the door to an opening sufficient for insertion of fingers or hands whereby the door would be further opened to permit entrance into the elevator. The elevators are without windows and are dark inside when the shaft doors are closed unless the lights inside are on. The switches for the lights are inside the elevators.

The plaintiff testified that the defendant Hampton had made inspections of the elevators on an average of once each month for a period of three years prior to the date she sustained her injury, and such inspections were made at various times of the day. On several occasions the defendant Hampton had worked on the doors to the elevators. On one occasion when she came to work at 8:30 o’clock in the morning she found the said-defendant and the building superintendent working on the west elevator; that Hampton had at times inspected and worked on elevators during a rest period or lunch period of the plaintiff, or the rest period or lunch period of Mrs. Williams. On one occasion the plaintiff had closed her elevator and left her key on the mail box and gone to lunch and when she returned no key was on the mail box and she pushed a button for the elevator service and she heard the elevator in movement and that it stopped at the street floor level and doors were opened from the inside and the defendant Hampton and the building superintendent, and her key, were inside the elevator.

The plaintiff testified that on an occasion in the month preceding the date of her injury that the defendant Hampton and the building superintendent had been working on her elevator and were working in the penthouse at the top of the elevator shaft when they rang for the elevator and that they came down on the plaintiff’s elevator; •that Mrs. Williams had left her elevator for her 2 o’clock off duty rest period; that Hampton went over to the east elevator door and took something and opened the elevator door and requested the plaintiff to take over the operation of Mrs. Williams’ elevator. The plaintiff noticed a key on the mail box and said to Hampton, “Why, you didn’t get Mrs. Williams’ key off the box. She doesn’t know I’m over here running her elevator.” Hampton said, “That’s right. I’m glad you noticed .it.” The plaintiff walked out and got the key from off the box and brought it into the east elevator and began operating the east elevator.

According to the testimony of the plaintiff, on the day of her injury the defendant Hampton and the building superintendent were working on the east elevator, during the regular time for Mrs. Williams’ lunch period from 11 a. m. to 12 noon. The plaintiff was operating the west elevator in regular passenger service. At 12 o’clock, and the time when Mrs. Williams was due from lunch, the plaintiff was bringing down a load of passengers when she heard the door to the east elevator open an heard that elevator in movement and heard it stop at the third and fourth floor levels. The plaintiff continued downward to the street floor level where she -unloaded her passengers and turned out the light in the west elevator and removed the elevator key and closed the door thereto. She placed the key on the mail box and went out to lunch. She returned from lunch at 1:0O o’clock and removed the key from the mailbox and un-docked the door to the west elevator. She then pushed on the door to slide it open and while she was pushing and the door was opening she stepped into the opening and fell into the elevator shaft. She fell a distance of about sixteen feet. She landed on her foot and then to a sitting position and then fell over on her back at the bottom of the elevator shaft. From there she looked up and observed the east elevator going up and down the shaft and the west elevator parked near the top of the shaft. She heard Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
1955 OK 364, 281 P.2d 408, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/otis-elevator-company-v-melott-okla-1954.