When an elevator is illegally overloaded, Who is responsible in case of legal action?

Depending on the local code of your current area, most elevators have a sign, with a certain size of lettering stating the full capacity of the elevator in pounds/grams.


In California, they even go to as far as posting a permit located on the elevator telling you the maximum amount of people and weight allowed on the elevator.





On a commercial elevator(which is any elevator that is not classified as residental) the person who owns the elevator will be responsible for maintaining and securing their elevator so that riders have a safe ride and do not damage their equipment.


In NO way is the company who built or services the elevator responsible for customers overloading the elevator to a dangerous capacity. Overloading elevators is dangerous and can cause injury or death in some rare instances, which is the exact reason that local authorities make sure that the capacity of the elevator is clearly written on the operating panel in the elevator.





So most likely the building who owns and operates the elevator would be in trouble for not safeguarding their elevators from overloading. But then again, the building can blame the passengers for ignoring the capacity warnings inside the elevator.


Its a gray area.When an elevator is illegally overloaded, Who is responsible in case of legal action?
The last one on.


The first one off could be anyone.When an elevator is illegally overloaded, Who is responsible in case of legal action?
Probably depends on the company...If they say a weight limit or have some computer that shows when it's overloaded, then whoever last got on is responsible. If the company doesn't signify anything, the defendant is not liable for any charges, and no one would be responsible, and the company probably would be ordered to install a notification system of some kind.
Last one on or the first one off.
the management of that building
If there was a sign....the fools who got in above the max....and those that couldn't count and stayed
I guess it depends on the case- was it done on purpose, like as a prank?


in canada elevators have a certificate issued by the TSSA that certifies that the elevator has been tested, etc., and it states the parameters that it should operate under, including max. load, and there is a name on that document- usually the owner of the property. I would think that they would be the first ones to be sued (if someone got hurt for example), and then they would file their own suits against other parties if there were other parties to blame. Just a guess.
Have you ever tried to overload an elevator with people? It's pretty hard to do. They'd have to be REAL close friends.
When I was in college, a bunch of guys overloaded an elevator and started rocking the car on the way down. Something went wrong and they got stuck between floors for a couple of hours (I will take this as fate letting them off lightly). Anyway, the U added about $1K to each of their tuition/room accounts to pay for the damage, which was substantial. So in this case it was taken care of extrajudicially. If it went to a court, who knows.