Woman may sue over elevator injury (on the job)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20111029/NEWS97/710299896#woman-may-sue-over-elevator-injury

Published Saturday October 29, 2011

A woman seriously injured in a fall down an empty elevator shaft at her workplace can sue a real estate company operated by her employers, the Nebraska Supreme Court said Friday.

Darlene Howsden was an employee of a Lincoln funeral home in 2009 when she went to cut through a makeshift hallway often used by employees. The hallway was created in an elevator shaft by the top of an elevator car that usually rested on the building's basement floor. However, the car had been moved unbeknownst to Howsden, and she fell 16 feet to the building's basement floor.

Howsden received workers' compensation but sued the real estate company that owned the mortuary to recover additional damages. The company, Roper's Real Estate, is owned and operated by the same shareholders as Roper & Sons Inc., which operated the mortuary.

Roper's argued it essentially was the same company as the mortuary, making workers' comp Howsden's sole remedy for damages.

FULL story at link.