Butcher v. Miami Elevator Co.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

This appeal is brought from a judgment entered on a jury verdict finding the defendant not liable for injuries suffered by an eleven-year-old who was injured when an elevator door collapsed.

We disagree with the plaintiff that he was entitled to have the jury instructed on res ipsa loquitor where the physical evidence, consisting of the elevator’s nylon bottom guides and the door, had been discarded by the defendant when the *63door was repaired.1 A plaintiff may not avail himself of the res ipsa doctrine where there is competent evidence that the accident was caused by his…