Filing Legal Action Against a Hotel for Injury

A number of travelers, especially those who do so frequently, view hotels as their home away from home. Often, guests pay a significant daily rates for hotels that provide amenities, luxury and a level of comfort that is not commonly or routinely available to most people. However, hotels can pose significant dangers, particularly if their owners do not maintain them properly or if they do not follow required safety standards.

Some of the common injuries suffered in hotels are caused by slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accidents, swimming pool accidents, excessive hot water temperature, electrocution, ceiling collapses and defective appliances. Sometimes, security issues such as faulty locks or bad lighting may pose personal safety issues for guests or visitors. Anyone who has been injured as the result of a hotel's negligence would be well advised to contact an experienced California premises liability attorney who will fight for his or her rights and ensure that they receive fair and full compensation for their significant losses.

What is Premises Liability?

A premises liability case deals with injuries caused by a property owner's failure to maintain his or her property or to warn visitors about dangers on the premises. Often premises liability cases involve incidents that occur because the property was not properly maintained or had inadequate security measures. Under California premises liability law, property owners must maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition or warn visitors and guests of any potential dangers. These premises liability laws of course apply to hotels. Examples of premises liability cases against hotels in California include:

• Slip-trip-and-fall: These types of incidents include victims slipping on spilled liquids or for example, a hotel guest tripping and falling on a broken stair.
• Improper maintenance: This relates to structural design flaws or defects in architecture and construction such as cave-ins.
• Negligent security: These may occur due to defective or inadequate security in hotels. Examples of injuries caused by inadequate security include robberies, sexual assaults or other violent acts that may occur due to defective locks, non-functional surveillance cameras in parking garages or lack of proper lighting.

Hotel's Responsibility

Hotels may not be held liable for every accident or injury that occurs on the premises. However, hotels do have a general duty to exercise reasonable care when it comes to the safety and security of their guests. Hotels have a duty to protect guests from harm caused by other guests or non-guests. These facilities also have a responsibility to make the premises reasonably safe for guests and visitors.

This obligation includes correcting existing hazards or warning visitors and guests about the existence of these dangerous conditions. In this context, the hotel must not only address those dangers that are visible, but also other hazards that are hidden. U.S. law does not generally require that hotels provide lifeguards at swimming pools for the safety of their guests. However, California law does require that hotels either provide lifeguards at the pools or at the very least post visible notices making guests aware that a lifeguard is not present. Generally speaking, hotels cannot be held liable for criminal acts caused on their premises. However, if these criminal acts were caused due to the hotel's negligence, the hotel may still be held liable.

Seeking Damages

If you have been injured as a result of a hotel's negligence, there are a number of damages and losses for which you can seek compensation including:

• Medical expenses: This includes emergency room and hospitalization costs, cost of medication and medical equipment, surgeries and rehabilitation such as physical therapy.
• Lost wages: This involves income that is lost as the victim is recovering from his or her injuries. In some cases involving catastrophic injuries, victims may seek additional compensation for lost future income, permanent injuries, disabilities, etc.
• Pain and suffering: This refers to the physical pain and emotional trauma that is suffered by victims as a result of the injuries.

In cases where a family loses a loved one as the result of a hotel's negligence, families of deceased victims can file what is known as a wrongful death claim seeking compensation for medical and funeral expenses, lost future income and loss of love and companionship.

Contacting an Experienced Premises Liability Attorney

If you have been injured as the result of a hotel's negligence or negligence on the part of any other property owner or manager, it is crucial that you contact an experienced California premises liability lawyer to fight for your rights and protect your best interests. Large hotels are part of large corporations have powerful legal defense teams on their side. It is important that you have a resourceful and tenacious personal injury lawyer on your side.

Call 949-203-3814 now to speak with our top premises liability lawyer and get the compensation you deserve.