A woman, who sustained debilitating physical and psychological injuries after a lift she was travelling in fell twenty-three floors, has been awarded over 13 million dollars after her elevator accident compensation claim was heard by a court in Florida.
Janice Beasley (41) from Jacksonville, Florida, was descending alone in the elevator at her workplace in May 1999 when it fell from the twenty-third floor to the eighth. While Janice remained trapped and injured in the elevator, an engineer was called. However, rather than free Janice from the elevator, the engineer attempted to get it to move – causing it to fall to the basement of the building.
Janice suffered a series of terrible injuries in the elevator accident – ranging from partial paralysis of her left leg to complex regional pain disorder. She was also diagnosed with chronic depression, Conversion Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Confined to a wheelchair and unable to work, Janice made a claim for elevator accident compensation against both the owners of the building and the elevator maintenance company.
The elevator maintenance company denied liability for Janice´s injuries and delayed the trial for almost ten years while the company argued one complex legal point after another. Eventually the case went to trial in Duval County Courthouse and, after two weeks of presentations, the jury found in Janice´s favour and awarded her 13,188,000 dollars in respect of her elevator accident compensation claim.