Ernest Vogliano Jr., son of a New York City restaurateur, died after an escalator accident at Madison Square Garden. According to a report on People.com, 61-year old Vogliano died from multiple blunt trauma. Officials said the man was leaving a Rangers game. Details about how he fell from the escalator have not been made available yet. Officers arrived at the scene and found him unconscious and unresponsive with severe head trauma.
Vogliano was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was the son of Ernest Vogliano Sr. who owned the city’s Il Vagabondo for five decades. The family is seeking more details about how this fatal escalator accident occurred. Our deepest condolences go out to the victim’s family for their tragic loss.
Escalator Accidents and Injuries
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there are about 35,000 escalators in the United States, each serving an average of 12,000 people per year. Collectively, U.S. escalators make 105 billion passenger trips per year. Most escalators are located in commercial, retail and public buildings such as airports and hospitals as well as large sports arenas and entertainment venues.
While escalators help us get from one point to another much quicker, they can also cause injury or death if they are defective or have not been properly maintained. Some of the most common defects associated with escalators include:
• Missing teeth on the escalator track
• Loose or missing screws
• Excessive space between the steps and the escalator sides
• Broken or missing steps
• Damaged handrails
• Debris or other hazards on the steps
• General malfunction
Some of the types of accidents involving escalators that we have seen include finger entrapment, comb plate entrapment, between-step entrapment, clothes or hair getting stuck in the escalator and trip-and-fall accidents. When it comes to escalator accidents, soft tissue damage is the most common injury. Data shows that in some cases, injuries required hospitalization and surgery.
Who Can Be Held Liable?
Here are some of the parties that may be held potentially liable for escalator accidents:
Property owner: The individual or entity who owns the building/property has a duty to make sure they inspect the escalator for problems or defects and repair them in a timely fashion.
Property manager: When property managers allow hazardous conditions to exist on their property and fail to repair them and/or warn visitors, guests or tenants about those dangers, they can be held liable for any injuries that occur.
Manufacturer: When an escalator accident is caused by inherent manufacturing defects in the escalator and other components of the escalator, the manufacturer of the escalator or the manufacturer of the defective parts may be held liable.
Designer: If the company that designed the escalator was negligent (careless) and designed a dangerous escalator, which led to the accident and injuries, you may be able to file a lawsuit against the designer as well.
Maintenance company: Property owners and property managers typically contract a third-party to service and maintain escalators. When these companies fail to do their jobs properly and an escalator accident occurs, the maintenance company can also be held liable.
Escalator installer: If the company that installed the escalator failed to install it correctly and if the accident occurred as a result of such negligence (carelessness), the escalator installer may be held accountable for your accident and injuries.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
A victim injured in an escalator accident may be able to seek compensation for damages including, but not limited to, medical expenses, lost income and benefits, cost of hospitalization, rehabilitation, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. A family who has lost a loved one in an escalator accident may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit seeking compensation as well.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an escalator or elevator accident or suffered injuries as a result of negligence (carelessness) on the part of property owners and/or property managers etc., the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Our law firm recovered $3,000,000 for a man who fell and suffered two broken legs when he walked into an open elevator shaft. In an interview by the Canadian television station Global News after a fatal escalator accident in Montreal, Mr. Kenneth A. Wilhelm stated that the installation of emergency stop buttons that are easily located and run the entire length of the escalator stairs may go a long way in preventing escalator accident injuries and fatalities. Our law firm helped a client secure $1,750,000 in a case where she suffered an ankle injury requiring surgery when the elevator she was in fell four floors due to negligence (carelessness) on the part of the elevator maintenance company. In addition, we got the workers’ compensation insurance company to pay a $150,000 lump sum for future medical benefits. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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Source: https://people.com/human-interest/61-year-old-son-nyc-restaurateur-dies-after-tragic-accident-madison-square-garden/