OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) - Kaiser is responsible for the mental distress, shock and physical pain a married couple endured while trapped in an elevator, they say in an Alameda County Court complaint.

When Deborah and Charles Jenkins visited the Long Beach Kaiser Permanente Medical Offices in June 2012, they became trapped in the building’s elevator, which had suddenly stopped between floors, the complaint states.

Kaiser’s poor maintenance of the elevator caused it to “move abruptly, travel between floors without regard to the floor selected for exit, and then trap plaintiffs on board the elevator, causing plaintiffs to suffer serious and permanent injuries,” they allege.

As a result, the couple claims they had to seek medical attention from doctors and surgeons, causing them to incur medical expenses.

The entire experience, they say, has caused them “shock, mental distress, mental and physical pain and suffering, and other injuries.”

They also claim they were traumatized by having to watch each other suffer through the ordeal.

The plaintiffs sued Kaiser Health Plan Asset Management Inc. for negligence, premises liability and “contemporaneous experience of injury by a close family member.” They seek general and special damages.

The plaintiffs are represented by John Hill and Daniel Stenson, in Oakland.