Harkins v. East New York Savings Bank

The infant-plaintiff, a boy of ten years, was injured when he fell from a movable stairway, which was part of a fire escape on the front of premises owned by defendant. The fire escape platform was even with the windows on the first floor and immediately below the platform was the stairway, which was kept parallel with the platform by a counter-balance weight. There was also an iron rod on the platform, which served as a locking device to prevent the stairway from being lowered to the sidewalk. When the stairway was up it was about ten feet above the sidewalk, and when lowered it encroached…