Attorney obtained summary judgment on behalf of a vehicle services company in a quadriplegia claim

Attorney obtained summary judgment on behalf of a vehicle services company in a quadriplegia claim. The company contracted with a Township to maintain township vehicles, including a bus used to transport senior citizens to a senior center. The senior bus was equipped with a wheelchair lift. Plaintiff, a senior citizen/passenger, tripped over a small step as he was assisting a 93 year old rider off the bus by carrying her foldable wheelchair. Plaintiff and the co-defendant township alleged the lift was not operating on the date of loss due to negligent maintenance and that the accident would not have occurred if the lift were operational. Discovery established the 93 year old senior could walk short distances and did need to use the lift; that the driver of the bus, who was never trained, did not know how to use the lift; and that the vehicle services company repaired the lift when the bus driver was out on medical leave ten months before the accident. The township did not tell its driver that the vehicle services company fixed the lift during her medical leave so she never tested it and could not testify from first hand knowledge that it was not working on the date of loss. She assumed it was not working because it "never worked," but there was no evidence of lift repair until six months after the accident. The judge agreed that the record lacked admissible evidence that the lift was broken and granted summary judgment to our client.