One company, accused by individuals of producing a dangerous product that injured them, has settled their lawsuit. The other company, at the center of a premises liability lawsuit, is slated to appear in the New Jersey Supreme Court soon.

All this litigation stems from an incident that happened at Giants Stadium, once home to the National Football League's New York Giants. In 2007, a faulty escalator injured several individuals. One of those individuals even lost a portion of his leg in the accident.

On that day, several football fans were riding on the escalator, attempting to travel from the stadium's upper level to a lower level. While the individuals were on the escalator, it unexpectedly sped up as a result of collapsing from having too many people on it. When one of the men reached the bottom, he tried to jump off the escalator, but the steps caved in and his leg fell through. He underwent a number of surgeries following the accident and ended up having his leg amputated below his knee. Another man on the escalator has had over 12 surgeries and still runs the risk of losing one of his feet.

The plaintiffs targeted the escalator company, accusing it of not properly maintaining and inspecting the escalator. That company reached a deal on the first day of a trial stemming from the incident. Eight individuals hurt in the accident will receive settlement money, but the terms were not disclosed.

However, a similar trial will continue against the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which was operating the stadium at the time of the accident. Plaintiffs in the case said the company did not take measures to limit the number of people on the escalator even though they knew overloading the machine could make it fail.

Representatives for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority said the blame should be squarely placed on the shoulders of the escalator company, as they did not warn of overloading and did not properly maintain the escalator.

The stadium has since been demolished.

Source: The Washington Post, "Escalator company settles in Giants Stadium accident; case proceeds versus NJ sports authority," Jan. 9, 2012