Family of boy killed in elevator seeks damages

PORTLAND – The family of an 8-year-old boy who was crushed to death in a vintage elevator at the Bethel Inn filed a motion Friday notifying the court that it will ask for punitive damages in a lawsuit.

The motion in U.S. District Court claims that Otis Elevator Co. in 1995 sent notices to 44,500 owners of the type of elevator that killed Jeffrey Smith of Bel Air, Md., last August, to warn them of the hazards of the elevators.

But 15,000 of the notices were returned to Otis unopened, and the company made the determination that nothing more should be done to follow up with the elevator owners, according to the motion.

The motion said the family learned of the previous safety notices during a deposition on Wednesday in Hartford, Conn.

Terrence Garmey, a Portland attorney representing the Smith family, said Bethel Inn never received a warning notice because it was mailed to the wrong post office box and returned to Otis headquarters in Farmington, Conn.

Punitive damages are warranted, the motion says, because of “Otis’ determination to do nothing further to correct the obvious failures of its supposed notification program.”

John Ciraldo, a Portland attorney representing Otis, said the company disagrees with those assertions.

“We don’t think any claims for punitive damages are warranted in this case,” he said.

Jeffrey Smith was killed during a family vacation to Maine when he became wedged between the elevator doors and a folding metal gate in front of the doors. He was crushed when the elevator car began rising after someone on the floor above pushed a button to call it.

Smith’s family filed a lawsuit in December, alleging that Otis designed an elevator with flaws that could result in severe injury and death. Pine State Elevator and the Bethel Inn are also named as defendants.