NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - The New York Mets can’t be sued over the death of a man who ignored a barrier and walked down a stopped escalator, only to plunge 50 feet to his death, a New York appeals court ruled.
Citing black-letter law protecting defendants against liability for open and obvious conditions, the New York Court of Appeals said a trial court was correct in dismissing a lawsuit against the Mets and the City of the New York.
Antonio Narainasami died after attending a ball game with a group of friends at Shea Stadium in April 2008. Narainasami and his friends left the stands during the eighth inning. The escalators had been turned off in the seventh inning and stadium employees had placed barriers in front of the escalators to direct spectators to the ramps instead, but Narainasami and his friends walked down a stopped escalator anyway. At some point, Narainasami fell over the handrail, fell 50 feet to a lower escalator and died.
The dead man’s estate sued the Mets, New York City, Otis Elevator and others. On appeal, the court considered only the dismissal of the case against the Mets and New York. In a March 9 decision, the appeals court said the defendants had a duty to maintain the stadium “in a reasonably safe condition” but that a stationary escalator is not inherently dangerous.
The defendants provided evidence the escalator was in good working order at the time of the accident. While the plaintiffs argued the barricades had been moved, the court said it would be difficult to understand how the stadium could have prevented the man’s death short of posting a security officer there, which is “surely an unreasonable burden.”
“By barricading the stopped escalators and directing spectators to exit via ramps both with announcements and by using security personnel,” the court concluded, the defendants complied with any duty they had to the dead man.
The plaintiffs were represented by Michael Feldman and Andrew Spitz of Jacoby & Meyers. Larry Lum and Melissa Greenberg of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Drinker represented the defendants.