Ronald Pawlak, the father of the man who fell down an elevator shaft at Legacy Towers, 119 Stanton Ave., on June 6, is now suing the elevator manufacturer, the property owner and property manager, according to documents filed with the circuit court of Cook County, Ill.

Robert Pawlak, 19, of Downers Grove Ill., was with a friend, Michael Foody, 19, of Willowbrook Ill., and an unidentified woman on the night of the incident on the seventh floor of the Legacy Towers, said Ames Police Cmdr. Mike Brennan.

Robert and Foody decided to go to Welch Ave. to get food, and were horse-playing in the hallway near the elevators, Brennan said. Foody pushed Robert, who was about 6-feet 3 inches tall and weighed about 255 pounds, and Robert fell against the elevator door, which collapsed.

The Iowa Workforce Development Division of Labor’s inspection report cited a damaged hoistway door safety retainer and stated that it had to be replaced before the elevator could be issued another operating permit.

Kerry Koonce, communications director at Iowa workforce development, said the safety retainer, a piece required on every floor of the building, keeps the doors from falling inward.

“Imagine sliding doors on a closet, and the track that they sit in,” she said.

Koonce said the piece is included in the inspection of the elevator and is required to be there in order for an elevator to get certified.

“It was fine back in December,” Koonce said. “But remember that’s way back in December, the elevator company has been in there many times since then.”

Schindler Elevator Corporation, the manufacturer, did not return calls for comment by press time.

Michelle Benson, a representative from Campustown Property Management, said in an interview in June, the elevators were regularly inspected and last certified in April.

According to the inspection report from June 19, a damaged safety retainer was found, “hidden from view underneath the elevator crosshead.”

Koonce said the Workforce couldn’t know whether or not the piece was damaged before Pawlak’s fall or by it. The Workforce also does not have an official comment on the incident, as it cannot yet conclusively decide what caused the accident.

“We don’t know how long that piece has been off,” she said.

Koonce said a follow up inspection is scheduled for July 15, and according to the report, the elevator cannot be used until then.

The lawsuit Ronald Pawlak filed accuses the Schindler Elevator Corporation of failing to inspect, maintain and repair the elevator door, as well as failing to design and construct a door that would not collapse and “as a direct and proximate result of one or more of the foregoing careless and negligent acts and/or omissions on the part of… Schindler Elevator Corporation… Robert Pawlak was killed.”

According to the lawsuit, Campus Investors, LLC, the listed owner of the property, is incorporated in Illinois, and it failed in its duty to “inspect, repair, service, manage and maintain… a certain elevator on the seventh floor at 119 Stanton.”

The suit also names Campustown Property Management, a fictitious name for a business owned by Roland Realty Inc., according to Iowa Secretary of State records, as being responsible for the failure to inspect, maintain and repair the door.

Ronald Pawlak was unavailable for comment at press time.

— Luke Jennet from the Ames Tribune contributed the lawsuit documents to this article.