Your Rights if You Fall Sick or Suffer an Injury at a Virginia Hotel
The deaths of three Americans at a hotel in the Dominican Republic has raised the alarm about safety at resorts abroad. However, visitors also fall sick and suffer injuries at hotels in Virginia and North Carolina. You have rights to sue if you fall sick or suffer an injury at a Virginia hotel, motel or B&B.
Injuries at the Grand Bahia Principe Hotel
The Grand Bahia Principe Hotel in the Dominican Republic made news headlines after three Americans were found unresponsive there last month. A preliminary examination blamed respiratory failure and pulmonary edema on the deaths of two American tourists. Five days earlier, a 41-year-old woman was found dead in her room at the same hotel.
News organizations later reported Kaylynn Knull and her boyfriend Tom Schwander from Colorado, filed a lawsuit earlier this year after they fell sick at the same hotel. Knull described how she woke up one morning with a pounding headache at the hotel. The couple reported an overpowering chemical smell in their room, CNN reported.
The couple changed rooms but reported intense stomach cramping and diarrhea. The couple believes bug spraying near their room may have channeled dangerous chemicals into the air system. When they returned to the United States, a doctor told them they might have been exposed to organophosphate chemicals, a dangerous constituent in pesticides.
The deaths at a popular hotel in the Dominican Republic are deeply concerning. Most vacations either abroad or here in the United States are uneventful and hotels are safe. But when they go wrong, they can go badly wrong.
Common Ways Guests Can Fall Sick or Suffer an Injury at a Virginia Hotel
There are numerous ways guests can fall sick or suffer an injury at a Virginia hotel. Under the law of premises liability, the hotel owner or operator has a duty to safeguard guests from any foreseeable risks or risks that should have been foreseeable.
Over the summer season resorts like Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks of North Carolina fill up with visitors. Thousands of new arrivals place pressures on the resources and physical fabric of the many hotels in these resorts. Sadly, guests get injured at hotels every year. Common problems include:
- Food poisoning from mass prepared meals at hotels;
- Slips, falls, and drownings in hotel swimming pools;
- Electric shock accidents in hotel rooms;
- Falling pictures, furniture, and other injuries;
- Falls from balconies;
- Slips on stairways and falls;
- Accidents involving beach umbrellas and patio furniture.
- Inadequate protection from fires;
- The presence of black mold;
- Hazardous chemicals in the air circulation system;
- Assaults by hotel employees;
- Injuries from bed bugs.
- Carbon monoxide poisoning from improper ventilation.
The owner or the operator of a hotel may be held responsible for injuries and illnesses suffered by guests. If you believe you have grounds to file a lawsuit, carefully document your injuries and make a formal complaint with the hotel. Talk to witnesses and take pictures of the accident scene. If you suspect a hazard in your room, ask to be transferred to another or check out.
The attorneys at Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers represented a woman who suffered a brain injury when a valance fell on her head while she was staying at a hotel in Virginia Beach. The trainee flight attendant in her 50s was hit by a falling wooden valance and drapes at the window of her room. The wooden valance weighed about 40 pounds. It had been improperly secured into the wall without anchors or fastening. The woman was struck on the head by the heavy piece of wood. She suffered a concussion as well as injuries to her knee, neck, and shoulder. The woman required surgery to repair an injury to her anterior cruciate ligament. She also suffered a rotator cuff and other injuries including a permanent leg impairment from the injury. The case was settled for $400,000.
At Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers we have a dedicated premises liability team of attorneys. We deal with injuries at hotels, restaurants, stores, and other businesses. Call us today.
