 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Dover Elevator Co. v. Swann3/25/1994
Carey Winston Company as a defendant in the action. The product liability claim was later dismissed as to all the defendants and a two-week jury trial on the negligence claims was held in January, 1992.
At trial, Swann offered the expert testimony of Donald Moynihan, an elevator consultant and engineer. Mr. Moynihan testified that he conducted an inspection of elevator number two and the machine room in December, 1990. He also testified that he reviewed all of Dover's available maintenance records. These records indicated service calls to correct misleveling problems with elevator number two on various dates from December, 1986 to February, 1987. Ronald Bothell was the mechanic who maintained and serviced elevator number two for Dover.
The specific negligence alleged by Moynihan's testimony was as follows: 1) Dover was negligent in filing and cleaning, as opposed to replacing, contacts 14 and 15 on elevator number two, resulting in a faulty current and the misleveling; 2) Dover was negligent by failing to spend adequate time servicing the elevator; 3) Dover's maintenance records were deficient; and 4) Dover failed to properly stock replacement parts in the elevator's machine room. Swann contends the elevator's misleveling was probably caused by an irregular current running between the number 14 and 15 contacts. The importance of this contention was explained by the Court of Special Appeals: "Although [Dover's Maintenance] Agreement specifically excludes several elevator components and associated systems, the component that Swann contends caused the misleveling, the '14 and 15 contacts', was not excluded." Swann, 95 Md. App. at 373, 620 A.2d at 993.
Following a trial on the merits, the jury returned a verdict in favor of all the defendants. Swann appealed to the Court of Special Appeals, which affirmed the verdict as to Prudential and Carey Winston, but reversed the verdict as to Dover. Swann, 95 Md. App. at 418, 620 A.2d at 1015. Dover petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari, which was granted on July 22, 1993 in order to address the aforementioned issues.
II. Analysis of the Res Ipsa Loquitur Doctrine
Res ipsa loquitur is applied in negligence actions as a permissible inference that literally means "the thing speaks for itself." Benedick v. Potts, 88 Md. 52, 55, 40 A. 1067, 1068 (1898). Res ipsa loquitur is "merely a short way of saying that the circumstances attendant upon an accident are themselves of such a character as to justify a [court or] jury in inferring negligence as the cause of that accident." Id. The doctrine allows a plaintiff the opportunity to establish a prima facie case "when he could not otherwise satisfy the traditional requirements for proof of negligence." Pahanish v. Western Trails, Inc., 69 Md. App. 342, 359, 517 A.2d 1122, 1130-31 (1986). The jury is thereby permitted, but not compelled, to infer a defendant's negligence without the aid of any direct evidence. Even when the doctrine applies, however, the burden of proving the defendant's negligence remains upon the plaintiff. Munzert v. American Stores, 232 Md. 97, 103, 192 A.2d 59, 62 (1963)(noting that a permissible inference of negligence does not shift the burden of proof to a defendant but only presents a question of fact to the jury). See also Shirks Motor Express v. Oxenham, 204 Md. 626, 635, 106 A.2d 46, 49 (1954)(stating that, if the trial court finds conflicting permissible inferences, the choice between them is made by the jury); Harris v. Otis Elevator, 92 Md. App.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Maryland Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|