An Empire State Building tour guide is suing after she got stuck in an elevator nearly 70 stories in the air, leading to an alleged case of PTSD she claims now precludes her from ever getting in another lift, cutting short a decades-long career escorting tourists to the iconic New York City skyscraper’s 86th-floor observation deck.
“Maxine Malcolm was entrapped, dangling high up – fearing for her very life and not knowing if the swinging elevator would drop at any time,” reads a civil complaint obtained by The Independent.
“As a result of the incident,” Malcolm, 55, “found that she could no longer enter an elevator as an unnatural fear would overcome her,” the complaint contends. “A gripping fear for which she had to seek treatment. As a result of the incident Maxine Malcolm could no longer work in her job and had to leave employment.”
The elevators in the 94-year-old Empire State Building “often” get stuck, Malcolm says in her complaint. In 2008, five of the building’s elevators all got stuck at the same time, forcing passengers to pry open the doors and jump down to the nearest landing. In 2016, members of a high school choir were trapped in an Empire State Building elevator some 40 stories in the air, and had to be rescued by firefighters. Last year, seven people were stranded in a stuck elevator on the tower’s 16th floor, finally getting out after 90 minutes when rescue crews led them through a hatch in the car’s ceiling.
Reached by phone on Tuesday, Malcolm, a Brooklyn resident, declined to answer any questions about her experience and referred The Independent to her attorney, Manuel Moses, who declined to comment.
Malcolm’s complaint, which was filed July 18 in Kings County Supreme Court, says was “a trusted employee and highly respected in her job, having served millions of tourists” during her 30 years as an Empire State Building tour guide.
Her duties involved “ferry[ing] passengers on elevators” up to the observation deck, according to the complaint, which claims Malcolm “observed that these elevators would often get stuck.”
“Maxine Malcolm would observe how on those occasions management at The Empire State Building would make every effort to ameliorate the anxiety and fear this would cause by offering free admission and words of assurance,” the complaint continues. “Maxine Malcolm noticed that before this incident… occurred there was an elevator that was getting stuck going up to the observation deck and remaining in disrepair.”
According to Malcolm’s complaint, cars 5, 6, 8, and 10 “broke down often.”
Around 3 p.m. on September 10, 2023, Malcolm was alone in car 6, heading upstairs for her lunch break, the complaint goes on. When it reached the 67th floor, the elevator suddenly stopped and began swinging back and forth, according to the complaint. Amid the turbulence, Malcolm “was badly shaken to and fro in this elevator and was knocked to the floor… seriously injur[ing] her shoulder,” the complaint states.
“[I]t should be noted that this was the day before September 11th and in her mind this heightened her fear of possible impending death,” the complaint contends.
Eventually, Malcolm managed to get out, although the complaint does not specify how long she was stuck, and whether the elevator simply started up again or if she had to be rescued.
“Maxine Malcolm remains in psychological treatment related to the elevator incident, as she still suffers from PTSD[,] also known as post-traumatic stress disorder[,] and has a phobia for getting in an elevator by herself that causes severe emotional distress,” the complaint states.
Before Malcolm developed her elevator phobia, she was earning roughly $90,000 annually, with overtime and benefits, according to her complaint. Now, it says, she receives $2,182 per month from workers’ comp, or, a little under $550 a week.
Malcolm’s lawsuit blames the Otis Elevator Company for her troubles, including personal injury, emotional distress and economic damages. (The Empire State Building and its management are not named as defendants in the suit.)
It claims Otis Elevator breached a “heightened duty of care as these elevators and more specifically the one involved is specifically used for income-earning purposes and intended to lift very high loads up very far for millions of people annually who have paid a fee to go up to the observation deck.”
“This incident was foreseeable,” Malcolm’s complaint alleges. “There was a history of problems with the elevators in The Empire State Building is that they have a tendency to break down and the employees from the Otis Elevator Company would take those elevators out of rotation, fix them, and sometimes they fix it or put it out for the entire day[,] depending on the issue.”
Yet, Malcolm accuses Otis Elevator of “allowing” the elevator’s condition to deteriorate by failing to – among other things – keep “all the components of the elevator car, assembly, associated mechanicals and cables, lift electric motors, indicators, [and] sensors… in working order for the safety of the public.”
As a result, Malcolm’s complaint says she experienced severe pain and suffering, emotional distress, and anguish. Malcolm wanted to continue working at the Empire State Building “into her later years,” but is now unable to, according to the complaint.
She is suing on multiple causes of action, including negligence, elevator phobia and loss of employment, and is seeking monetary damages to be determined in court.
A spokesman for Otis, the world’s largest elevator company, told The Independent, “It would not be appropriate for us to comment on a pending legal matter.”
