Dallas Market Center Development Co. v. Liedeker

The dispositive question in this case is whether the trial court erred in charging the jury that an elevator owner owes a passenger a high duty of care rather than an ordinary duty of care. We answer yes. Because the case must be remanded for retrial, we also consider whether the district court erred in refusing to charge the jury on premises liability.

A timing device on a freight elevator in Dallas Market Center Development Company’s Loew’s Anatole Hotel automatically lowered the entry gate twenty-one seconds after it opened. A bell warning that the gate was lowering had been muffled because…