Dear readers,
In this week’s column I pass the ball to the other attorney slaving away at the bicyclelaw.com offices, Brian Driscoll.

Dear Bob,
I am an avid cyclist in New York City, and I like to commute by bicycle. The building in which I work does not allow full-sized bicycles in the lobby or elevators (I purchased a foldable bicycle). However, I am curious about the legality of banning cycles in this building.

Bryan in NYC

Bryan,
Even though a policy disallowing bicycles in the lobby or elevators of a building is morally reprehensible, it does not run afoul of any laws that we can think of here at the offices of bicyclelaw.com. Although lawyers and lawsuits sometimes seem like the best way to effect policy changes, whether it be public or private policy, it’s not always the best way, and it’s certainly not the only way. Sometimes you’ve got to take it to the streets, brother! Create a groundswell of support for your cause and maybe you can persuade the powers that be to alter their policies. I bet if you ask around you will find that you are not the only one suffering under the tyranny of your building’s management. I’m equally sure that there are readers out there who have been challenged by similar circumstances and have persevered.

I can’t think of any good reasons to ban bicycles from a building, but here is a bit of technical information that might shed some light on the rationale behind the restriction on bikes in your building.

Generally speaking, a landowner or building owner owes a duty of care to persons who enter the premises based on the “status” of the entrant. Traditionally there are three classes of entrants, trespassers, licensees and invitees.

An owner of land owes trespassers a duty not to wantonly inflict injury. This duty includes warning of all known dangers when it is known by the owner that trespassers are likely to be present and the danger is not obvious. A licensee is, roughly, one who is permitted to enter and is thus not a trespasser, but who technically does not qualify as an invitee. An invitee is one who has been invited onto the premises and is expected to be on the premises by the owner or occupier of land. The distinction, under the common law, between invitees and licensees as to the duty owed by an owner or occupier of any premises to such entrants has been abolished. The duty owed to licensees and invitees is one of ordinary care. More precisely, ordinary care requires a warning of a dangerous condition in some cases; in others, it requires an effort on the part of the owner to make the premises safe.

Your building is more than likely open to the public or at least open to those persons in the building to conduct business. As such, the building owners and managers have a duty to those persons entering to keep the premises reasonably safe. A failure on the part of the owner or occupier to satisfy the duty of care owed to a person entering the building may subject the owner or occupier to liability in a lawsuit for personal injuries stemming from injuries caused by the defective condition.

A building owner or manager has discretion to allow or disallow items or objects in their respective buildings for any number of reasons, safety being just one. I’m not suggesting that bicycles in a building create a dangerous condition, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that it was part of the rationale behind the restriction. It may be that the management in your building decided, for whatever reason, that bicycles cause damage to the elevators or lobby area and therefore should not be permitted. In any event, it’s completely within the discretion of the owner or manager to decide what is and isn’t allowed in the building, within certain limits.

There are instances where a person or class of persons could be restricted from entering a building due to a building regulation and a violation of law could be proven (think wheelchairs and other devices used by handicapped individuals). This type of a restriction is discriminatory and conceivably violates a person’s civil rights. Cyclists, though often discriminated against, have not been given status as a suspect class and therefore would not likely qualify for protection under the Constitution for infringement of civil rights in the context of the situation you have described in your building.

The upshot is that the value of people commuting to work by bicycle should be obvious to even the casual observer. A quick look around at the volume of traffic on the city streets is reason enough to allow a bike rack to be affixed to every cubicle in New York City.

If you want to effect some change in your building, you need to get organized, build a constituency, identify your adversaries and be aggressive. Building a constituency is probably going to pose the greatest challenge and have the largest impact on your situation. Acting alone you will not have nearly as much influence as a group of individuals working together toward a common goal. In your case, you may want to develop the support of the companies renting or owning space in your building as well as the support of other bicycle commuters. Before you begin passing around petitions, you might want to check out The League of American Bicyclists website (www.bikeleague.org). The League of American Bicyclists has lots of ideas and resources. I would recommend you take a look at the section titled “The Basics of Bicycle Advocacy.”

Good luck; let us know how things turn out. (Readers, please direct your suggestions or experiences in this area to info@bicyclelaw.com.)

Brian S. Driscoll

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Now read the fine print:
Bob Mionske is a former competitive cyclist who representedthe U.S. at the 1988 Olympic games (where he finished fourth in the roadrace), the 1992 Olympics, as well as winning the 1990 national championshiproad race.After retiring from racing in 1993, he coached theSaturn Professional Cycling team for one year before heading off to lawschool. Mionske's practice is now split between personal-injury work, representing professional athletes as an agent and other legal issues facing endurance athletes (traffic violations, contract, criminal charges, intellectual property, etc).If you have a cycling-related legal question, please send it to mionskelaw@hotmail.comBob will answer as many of these questions privately as he can. He willalso select a few questions each week to answer in this column. Generalbicycle-accident advice can be found at www.bicyclelaw.com.Important notice:
The information provided in the "Legally speaking"column is not legal advice. The information provided on this publicweb site is provided solely for the general interest of the visitors tothis web site. The information contained in the column applies to generalprinciples of American jurisprudence and may not reflect current legaldevelopments or statutory changes in the various jurisdictions and thereforeshould not be relied upon or interpreted as legal advice. Understand thatreading the information contained in this column does not mean youhave established an attorney-client relationship with attorney Bob Mionske.Readers of this column should not act upon any information contained inthe web site without first seeking the advice of legal counsel.