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Sant v. Hines Interests Limited Partnership12/15/2005
{ } Appellants, Joan and Thomas Sant, appeal the May 20, 2005 judgment entry of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas granting summary judgment in favor of appellees Schindler Elevator Corporation ("Schindler") and Hines Interests Limited Partnership ("Hines").
{ } Mrs. Sant is employed as a paralegal with a law firm that occupies six floors at the top of the Huntington Center building in downtown Columbus. Mrs. Sant's office is located on the 30th floor. As part of her job , Mrs. Sant regularly travels from one floor to another within the firm by way of elevators servicing the upper floors.
{ } On October 16, 2001, Mrs. Sant took an elevator from the 30th floor to the 32nd floor, intending to speak with an attorney in her firm. The attorney was not in his office, so Mrs. Sant went back to the elevator bank to return to her office. Mrs. Sant pushed the call button and waited for an elevator car to arrive.
{ } Inside the elevator, Mrs. Sant pressed the button to go to the 30th floor; however, instead of descending as ordered, the elevator ascended to the 34th floor, where the doors remained closed. Mrs. Sant again pushed the button for the 30th floor. This time, the elevator moved downward, but it passed the 30th floor and continued until it stopped at the 25th floor. Again, the doors remained closed. Mrs. Sant testified that the elevator began to drop intermittently from that point, falling approximately 20 times.
{ } As these events unfolded, Mrs. Sant used the intercom system to inform the building courtesy staff that the elevator was malfunctioning. Carl Grubb and Chris Rogers were on duty that evening and informed her that they would check on the situation. Rogers then went to investigate whether he could see the position of the elevator. At one point, Rogers visually determined that the elevator was stuck about one inch below the 32nd floor, although the indicator registered its location as being at level 33. Approximately 20 minutes later, Rogers noted that the indicator showed that the elevator was at the 22nd level; however, visually, Rogers located the elevator in the blind hoistway, somewhere between the gallery level and what would be the 20th floor.
{ } When Rogers first spotted the elevator, he informed Grubb of the situation. Grubb then used the intercom to tell Mrs. Sant that he was calling Schindler, the elevator maintenance company, to assist her. Grubb called Schindler's dispatch number at 6:40 p.m.
{ } Mrs. Sant was trapped in the elevator for about two hours. At approximately 8:40 p.m., the elevator descended to the ground floor. The descent occurred at normal speed; however, Mrs. Sant testified that the landing was harder than usual. Mrs. Sant exited the elevator when the door opened and walked up a flight of idle escalator stairs to get to the guard desk. From there, she and the Schindler technician took a different elevator up to the 30th floor to retrieve her purse from her office. Mrs. Sant left the building without assistance. Mrs. Sant testified that she was not injured as the elevator dropped intermittently. Instead, she believes she was injured during the irregular landing.
{ } On October 9, 2003, Mrs. Sant and her husband filed a complaint naming Schindler and Hines as defendants. The complaint asserted seven claims: (1) negligent maintenance; (2) res ipsa loquitor; (3) design defect; (4) negligent installation; (5) failure to warn; (6) negligent response; and (7) loss of consortium. On February 22, 2005, Schindler filed a motion for summary judgment. The next day, Hines filed its own motion for summary judgment. On April 28, 2005, the trial court issued a decision sustaining both mo
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