Family settles in elevator death Boy’s parents agree to $3M and safety plan

PORTLAND – The family of an 8-year-old Maryland boy who was crushed in an antique elevator at the Bethel Inn has settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $3 million and a plan to prevent future accidents.

The parents and two sisters of Tucker Smith watched helplessly as he died after being trapped between the doors of a moving elevator on Aug. 23, 2001.

Jeffrey and Mary Smith of Bel Air, Md., said in documents filed in U.S. District Court that they hoped resolution of their case would spare other families the torment they have lived with the past 17 months.

Jeffrey Smith will come to Maine on Thursday to announce the safety program that was negotiated with the Otis Elevator Co., which promises to make its elevators safer.

“Our agreement with Otis is unique and will allow Mary and me to fulfill our promise to our girls that we would do all that we could to prevent such tragedies in the future,” Smith wrote. “My family can move on, knowing that a meaningful and enforceable agreement has been reached.”

Smith’s lawyer, Terrence Garmey, declined comment before the press conference. Representatives for Otis could not be reached for comment.

The Smith family sued Otis, the Bethel Inn and Pine State Elevator, a Maine company that inspected the inn’s elevator, charging that they all were negligent and caused Tucker’s death.

The three businesses agreed on the amount of the cash settlement that will be paid to the Smiths, and are now sparring over what share of responsibility each should bear. All three defendants asked to be released from the case, but in a ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby denied their motions, setting the stage for a three-way trial in February.

“There are genuine issues of material fact to be determined … who among the defendants is liable and for what share,” Hornby wrote.

The case highlighted a deficiency with a style of elevator, popular before the 1950s, which employs an outer hinged door, and a collapsible gate inside. Tucker got stuck in a 71/2-inch gap between the two doors just as a maid on the second floor rang for service.

The Smith case was not the first time a child was killed after being trapped in a swinging elevator door. An Associated Press analysis last year found that at least nine children have been killed in swinging-door elevators, four in the past 41/2 years.

The elevator at the Bethel Inn was one of 181 in Maine with a swinging-door design. After the accident, 73 were shut down for violating the spacing standards.

In 1986, industry safety codes identified the excessive space problem and required all swinging-door elevators to install a device, which reduced the gap to 41/2 inches. According to court documents, Otis subsequently sent a letter to all owners of swinging-door elevators, including the Bethel Inn, warning of the problem.

In 1997, Maine adopted rules that required elevator owners to fix excessive gaps. The Bethel Inn, however, did not fix its door, and Pine State did not fail the elevator, with the last inspection taking place two months before Tucker’s death. The elevator in the two-story inn has been out of use since the accident.