Trini awarded $5M in damages in NY

The landlord and an elevator repair company have agreed to pay US$800,000 to Thomas Samuel, of Port-of-Spain, who was seriously injured when he fell down the elevator shaft of a Crown Heights building.

The settlement came as lawyers for the defendants and the victim, Samuel, had completed jury selection on Monday in the Brooklyn Supreme Court, the New York Daily News reported yesterday.

"This settlement will help him recoup some of his economic loss as a result of his terrible injuries, and compensate him for the pain and suffering he’s endured," said lawyer Sanford Rubenstein, who represented Samuel in the suit.

Samuel had flown from his native Trinidad to New York City on November 27, 2002, to visit his mother, who lived at 1,245 Eastern Parkway near Ralph Avenue. When he entered her apartment building, he noticed the lights in the elevator weren’t working, but rode the elevator to her floor in the dark.

The next day, Samuel escorted a relative to a nearby bus stop and returned to the building lobby.

"He pulls the elevator door open and goes to step in and falls straight to the basement," Rubenstein said. "He’s lucky to be alive because at the base of the elevator shaft are two giant springs."

The building superintendent heard Samuel’s cries for help and broke a basement-level door to reach the injured man.

Samuel suffered a fractured vertebra, a broken arm and major damage to his shoulder. Since the accident, he has been unable to return to his jobs in construction and operating a taxi service in Trinidad.

The suit charged 1,245 Realty LLC and Precision Elevator Corporation of Brooklyn with negligently allowing the door of the elevator to open when the cab was not there. Jeff Miller, a lawyer at the Manhattan firm of Kuczinski, Vila, Tarallo, Pillinger and Miller, which represented the elevator-repair company, declined to comment on the case. A lawyer for the landlord did not return a call.