Staying at a hotel should be an enjoyable experience. You expect the management to keep the place clean and safe. If there is a spill, staff members should clean it up as soon as possible, and if they can’t, then place a sign to warn possible hotel guests and staff that the area isn’t safe. When they don’t do these things, people can suffer from falls.
In the legal world, falling accidents that are caused by property or venue owners or workers who don’t prioritize the safety of visitors are referred to as “slip and fall” accidents. If you were a victim of a slip and fall accident in a hotel, you may have grounds for a personal injury claim. First, let’s go over some basic information about falling accidents in hotels:
How Do Hotel Falls Happen?
When hotels don’t clean up liquid on the floor, they’re putting their guests and staff at risk of a slip and fall accident. Areas that can be especially dangerous for slips include:
- Stairways
- Balconies
- Ramps
- Parking Lots
- Bathtubs/Showers
Falls are usually more common when the above areas don’t have guard rails for someone to catch and possibly break their fall, slippery surfaces either due to spills, maintenance, or weather, stable landing areas, or proper lighting so people can see where they’re stepping.
While spills do happen, the hotel should clean it up in a reasonable amount of time. It may be impossible for someone to be there one minute after a spill occurs, but the hotel should respond as quickly as possible. Ignoring the spill or not warning people about the dangerous area is when the hotel acts negligently.
Fall Injuries
There are significant consequences for falls, especially for older adults. Head injuries or broken bones are the result of one out of every five falls. About 3 million seniors have to go to emergency rooms because of fall injuries. A major concern after a broken bone is if an infection develops. Older adults have weaker immune systems and take longer to recover. Infections can become difficult to fight off.
Even if you are young and will recover more quickly, you can still retain a serious injury that inhibits your ability to work, be active or mobile, and may require extended treatment. If this happened because the hotel wasn’t following proper safety protocols, then you may be able to take legal action.
How to Show the Hotel’s Negligence
If you’ve been injured in a slip and fall accident in a hotel, you’ll want to seek representation from a lawyer who is experienced in these types of cases in your state. You will need to provide the following facts and/or pieces of evidence to your attorney:
- Hotel’s Duty of Care. If you were staying at a hotel, you should be considered an invitee of the hotel’s. This means you had permission to be there and the hotel had a duty of care to make the environment safe. By leaving a spill and subjecting you to bodily harm, they didn’t meet the duty of care that you were owed.
- The Fall Accident. Your account of the fall will be important here because you can provide the details of the accident. Your lawyer may seek out eyewitnesses to the fall or find footage of it if that’s available.
- Your Injuries. Copies of your medical records will show how your injuries that resulted from the fall. You can also help by keeping an account of the pain that the injuries have caused and how they’re affecting your life. This could be from preventing you from completing everyday tasks or keeping a record of the cost of care.
By providing this information, you’ll be able to help prove that the hotel was negligent in some way and that your injuries should not have happened. Most slip and fall claims are complex due to the fact that hotels and other common venues where these accidents occur are often backed by powerful legal departments that will fight to protect the business from financial harm. With the right lawyer on your side, however, you can let your voice be heard and help make sure that no one gets injured at that venue in the future.
Get Help from DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, PLLC
When negligence causes your injuries, know that you don’t have to deal with the consequences on your own. The lawyers at DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, PLLC are ready to represent you and protect your rights. You deserve fair compensation and we will fight for it. To get started, give us a call today. You can schedule a meeting with one of our lawyers in a free consultation.
Holding negligent businesses like hotels is important because there’s a chance your actions will spark change. They could adopt protocols or procedures to make their building safer for guests. Your claim sends a message and you could prevent this from happening to someone else in the future.
