Elevator “repaired” with zip ties drops; leaves Bay Area woman permanently injured and unable to work. Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook obtains $5.6 million verdict for victim.
A Contra Costa jury awarded $5.6 million to a woman in Walnut Creek who was severely injured at the Gateway Centre in 2013 when an elevator that had been held together with zip ties broke and dropped while she was inside it. The victim, Amy Zapotoczny, who worked in the Gateway Centre building where the incident occurred, said “The elevator doors closed and it started moving and at some point I heard a metal scraping noise at the doors…. Then it went down and then dropped, and it stopped and it dropped again.”
She suffered a torn labrum and two herniated discs as a result, and has also undergone 4 surgeries in attempts to repair the damage done and restore her previous functional capacity. She has been officially declared to be disabled.
Zapotoczny, who was attending nursing school at the time, has since been forced to give up her education and future prospects as a nurse, as even the act of bending forward to read a book produces intense pain.
Her attorney, Andrew Schwartz, says Zapotoczny “will never be able to work again” as a result of negligent maintenance by the building owner, Sierra Pacific Properties, and the Schindler Elevator Corporation.
Our firm played a critical role in holding the negligent parties responsible for Zapotoczny’s injuries and losses. The jury ordered that Sierra Pacific pay 60% of the damages and allotted the other 40% to Schindler Elevator Corporation.
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