Michigan Stairway and Escalator Accident Lawyer

A fall on a stairway or escalator is easy for a property owner to blame on the visitor. The cause is usually more concrete than clumsiness: a loose handrail, a worn tread, a step built to the wrong height, a dark stairwell, or an escalator that should have been shut down for repair. Whether you have a case depends on what made the walkway dangerous, who was responsible for it, and what can still be proven, and those answers are rarely as simple as the owner would like.

Our premises liability attorneys represent people hurt in stairway and escalator falls in Livonia and across Michigan. Michigan premises law shifted significantly in 2023, and understanding how the rules work now, and who is actually on the hook for a stairway or an escalator, is what separates a brushed-off claim from a real one.

What Changed in 2023

For two decades, Michigan property owners had a reliable defense. Under the open and obvious rule, if a hazard was something an average person should have noticed, the owner often owed no legal duty at all, and the case was dismissed before a jury saw it. Falls on stairs and escalators were routinely thrown out on that basis.

In Kandil-Elsayed v. F&E Oil (2023), the Michigan Supreme Court overruled that approach. An obvious danger no longer automatically ends the case. The owner still owes invitees reasonable care, and the obviousness of a hazard is now folded into two questions a jury decides: whether the owner breached its duty, and the injured person’s share of fault. The Court also did away with the old “special aspects” test. In its place is a more sensible question, whether the owner should have anticipated that people would be hurt despite the obvious danger. A worn, poorly lit stair that is the only way out of a building is a good example: the hazard may be visible, but people have to use it anyway, and a jury can find the owner should have fixed it.

Premises Claim or Ordinary Negligence?

Not every stairway or escalator injury is the same kind of case, and the difference matters. When the injury comes from a dangerous condition of the property, a broken step, a missing handrail, it is a premises liability claim. When it comes from someone’s active conduct, an employee mopping and leaving a stair slick without warning, or a technician who botched an escalator repair, it can be an ordinary negligence or product claim instead. That distinction is worth getting right, because ordinary negligence claims were never subject to the open and obvious defense at all. We look closely at how the injury actually happened so the claim is framed on the strongest footing.

What the Property Owner Owes You

How much protection you were owed depends on why you were there. A customer in a store, mall, or hotel is an invitee, owed the most: the owner must inspect the property and take reasonable steps to fix or warn about dangers it knew about or should have found. A social guest is a licensee and is owed a warning of known hidden hazards. A trespasser is owed only that the owner not injure them through willful and wanton misconduct, with narrow exceptions. Most stairway and escalator falls involve invitees in publicly accessible places.

The other piece is notice. An owner is generally responsible when it created the hazard, actually knew about it through complaints or incident reports, or should have discovered it because the condition existed long enough that a reasonable inspection would have caught it. A handrail loose for weeks or an escalator with a documented history of the same malfunction is the kind of proof that matters, and developing it is central to the case.

Escalators Bring More Than One Defendant

Escalators and elevators are regulated machines, and that widens the circle of responsibility. The property owner or operator has a premises duty to keep the equipment safe. The maintenance company, often a national contractor like Otis, KONE, Schindler, or TK Elevator, can be liable for negligent inspection, maintenance, or repair. The manufacturer can be liable if a design or manufacturing defect caused the failure. And an escalator inside a transit hub may subject its operator to the heightened duty of a common carrier.

In Michigan, these units are regulated by the Bureau of Construction Codes within LARA, are generally inspected at least once a year, and must comply with the national safety code ASME A17.1, which the state has adopted with its own modifications. The code requires a maintenance control program that documents the upkeep of each unit. When inspections are skipped, repairs are deferred, or a known problem is left unfixed, those records become important evidence, which is why we move to obtain the maintenance and inspection history early.

When a Stairway Violates the Code

Stair falls often trace to identifiable, code-violating conditions. Michigan’s building code, built on the International Building Code, sets specific standards: risers generally between 4 and 7 inches, treads at least 11 inches deep, no more than 3/8 inch of variation between the tallest and shortest riser in a single flight, and handrails 34 to 38 inches high. A step that is a half-inch off from the others, an inconsistency a walker cannot see but the foot feels, is a classic cause of a fall and a clear code violation. We bring in the applicable code and, where needed, an expert to measure the stairs and show exactly what was wrong.

Public Buildings Come With a Short Deadline

If your fall occurred in a government building, a public university, a courthouse, a school, or a transit station, special rules apply. Governmental immunity generally shields the agency, but the public-building exception in MCL 691.1406 permits a claim for a dangerous condition in a public building when the agency knew or should have known of it and failed to fix it. The catch is a strict deadline: written notice of the injury and the defect must be served on the agency within 120 days. Miss it, and an otherwise valid claim can be lost, which is why identifying a public defendant early is so important.

The Evidence That Disappears

These cases are won with proof that does not last. Surveillance video of the fall is often recorded over within days. Incident reports, maintenance and inspection logs, prior complaints, and the physical condition of the walkway can all vanish once the owner repairs the hazard or recycles its footage. We immediately send preservation demands for the video, service records, and prior complaint history, and we document the scene before it changes. If a property destroys evidence after being told to preserve it, Michigan law can let the jury infer that the missing evidence would have hurt the defense, a real source of leverage. Reporting the fall and getting prompt medical care helps build the foundation, too.

How Fault Gets Argued

Even after 2023, the property owner will argue you should have watched your step. That argument did not vanish; it moved. Rather than ending your case, it now goes to comparative fault, where a jury weighs your share of responsibility against the owner’s. Michigan reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault, and only a finding that you were more than 50% at fault bars compensation for pain and suffering; even then, your economic losses, such as medical bills and lost wages, es remain recoverable, reduced by your share. That shift is the reason many of these cases are worth pursuing again.

Injuries and Compensation

Falls on stairs and escalators cause serious harm: broken wrists, hips, and ankles, head and brain injuries, spinal damage, and the entrapment injuries escalators inflict on hands, feet, and clothing. We document the full medical picture and lost income, pursue claims against every responsible party, the owner, the maintenance company, and the manufacturer, and seek compensation for medical costs, lost earnings, and the pain and limitations the injury causes. When a child is hurt, the deadline to sue is generally extended to a year after their eighteenth birthday, though evidence still has to be preserved now.

How Vahdat Weisman Law Handles Your Case

We start by preserving what disappears, the video, the maintenance records, the defect itself, and identifying every party with a share of responsibility. We apply the current premises rules, not the outdated version, frame the claim on its strongest theory, and build it on documented proof of the hazard and your losses. From our Livonia office, attorneys Jordan S. Vahdat and Kara E. Weisman handle stairway and escalator injury claims for clients across Metro Detroit and the rest of Michigan on a contingency-fee basis, so there is no attorney fee unless we recover for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

• The property owner says the hazard was obvious. Is my case over? No. Since Kandil-Elsayed in 2023, an obvious danger no longer automatically defeats a Michigan premises case. It is weighed as part of the owner’s responsibility and your own share of fault, and the case can still go forward, especially if you had no real way to avoid the hazard.
• Who can be held responsible for an escalator injury? Often more than one party: the owner or operator for premises safety, the maintenance company for negligent inspection or repair, and the manufacturer if a defect caused the failure. We identify each and pursue all available coverage.
• My fall was in a public building. Is it different? Yes, and the deadline is short. Claims against government buildings require written notice of the injury and defect within 120 days, so it is important to act quickly.
• What if I wasn’t watching where I was going? Your share of fault can reduce your recovery, but it does not end the case unless you were more than half at fault, and even then, your medical bills and lost wages remain recoverable in reduced form. How dangerous the condition was, and what the owner knew, often matter more.
• What does it cost to hire you? Nothing upfront. We handle these claims on a contingency-fee basis, so you owe no attorney’s fee unless we recover compensation for you.

Why Injured Michiganders Trust Vahdat Weisman Law

Vahdat Weisman Law is a personal injury firm based in Livonia, Michigan, representing injury victims and their families throughout the state. Our attorneys, Jordan S. Vahdat and Kara E. Weisman, bring courtroom experience, a record of meaningful results, and a hands-on approach to investigation and case strategy. We prepare every matter as if it will go to trial, positioning clients for stronger settlements and protecting their rights if litigation becomes necessary.

We handle stairway and escalator injury claims on a contingency-fee basis, which means there is no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you. From our Livonia office, we serve clients across Metro Detroit and the rest of Michigan, and we explain every step in plain language so you can make informed decisions about your case.

Speak With a Michigan Personal Injury Lawyer

If you were hurt in a stairway or escalator fall, contact Vahdat Weisman Law in Livonia today at (734) 469-4994 for a free, confidential consultation. The sooner we hear from you, the sooner we can preserve the video and records your claim depends on, and protect any short deadline that applies. Reach out via our contact page to let us know what happened and learn about your options. There is no cost to speak with us about your potential claim.

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is unique, and prior results do not guarantee future success.